The Uzumaki
by VaingloriousHound
Summary: The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown. They fear the beast, they feared her Clan, but will they fear Naruko as well? Shameless Fluff, Fem!Naruto, pairings undecided.
1. Chapter 1

**The Uzumaki**

**A/N: Just so you know, heavy changes. Example: Itachi is about ten years older than Sasuke. There's a lot more but that would be spoilers. Hope you can enjoy the hilarity! :3**

* * *

It wasn't unusual for clans within Konoha to have meetings. On their own, it was only natural and even meetings between two entirely different clans weren't all too unusual. The Inuzuka met on regular basis with the Aburmae to inform them of problems that came up with their ninken and the reactions they had to the Aburame's new breeds of bugs. The Sarutobi clan, which consisted of no more than father, son and grandson, had regular meetings with the Nara and Yamanaka clan, who in turn met weekly with the Akimichi. These meetings, however, were far from anything formal and most of the time Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka and Choza Akimichi merely went out for the sake of going out, calling it a clan meeting just so their wives couldn't nag them.

It was unusual, however, for the Hyuuga to have a meeting with another clan. They kept strictly to themselves, rarely reaching out to the other clans in the village. The very same could have been said about the Uchiha, who had been more or less been marginalized since the second Hokage relocated them into the outskirts of the village and left them in charge of the military police. And while that _was _indeed a position of power, it had merely been done to keep them from anything else.

Anyhow, the Hyuuga and the Uchiha were the two strongest and most numerous clans in Konoha, all the while the most reclusive ones as well. So, one could say it was most unusual that just those two clans would have any kind of meeting.

Hyuuga Hiashi, the clan head of the Hyuuga ever since his father stepped down about two years prior to this meeting, was, surprisingly, not sitting at the small square table that stood in the very center of the brightly lit room that had, for whatever reason, not a single window to speak of. In Hiashi's stead, was his wife, Hitomi Hyuuga, boasting a quite obviously pregnant belly. She smiled serenely at the woman that sat across from her, who was in fact not the Uchiha clan head, but his wife, Mikoto Uchiha.

"Hitomi," Mikoto said, smiling gently at the pregnant, raven haired woman, "How is your little daughter doing?"

"Eagerly awaiting her little sister," Hitomi responded, patting her belly. She was just over six months pregnant and Hitomi just knew that it was another baby girl for her to spoil. "How is Itachi doing?"

A small frown crossed Mikoto's beautiful features. "Fugaku is trying his best to make him into a warrior. My poor boy is strong but... he may not be strong enough."

"Worry not," the Hyuuga assured, her pale eyes conveying her empathy, "Itachi is strong. Is young Sasuke well?"

Immediately Mikoto's face lit up. "Oh he is _sooo_ adorable! He's basically living on Itachi's heels!"

"I'd imagine he'd be," Hitmoi laughed softly. She smiled before her worry let it ebb away. "But it is not why we are here today."

Mikoto sighed, shifting in her rather uncomfortable chair. "No... Have you heard anything new?"

Hitomi's face was almost sour. "The streets are harsh on her and it's barely been a few months. Thankfully, she will be fine for now, the ANBU and the others are doing everything they can."

The Uchiha women sighed. "To think our teammate's daughter would end up on the street..."

"She's but four years old...," Hitmoi lamented. "She shouldn't have to put up with this."

"There is only so much we can do," Mikoto said, frowning at the dark wood of the table. "We can't risk some kind of boycott with the civilians, not after the village has been weakened like this by the Kyuubi."

Hitomi's Byakugan twitched to life. "Thrice damned fools!" she hissed under her breath.

Mikoto wanted to laugh at the uncharacteristic outburst but was closer to joining in than anything else. She choose to growl instead as her laughter faded. "They are simply ignorant. In time, they will learn."

"We might as well teach them," Hitomi proposed, drumming her fingers on the tabletop. The idea was just the slightest bit ludicrous.

The Uchiha hummed. "And I know just the thing." She turned around in her chair, looking at the apparently blank white wall behind her. From said wall, a masked man emerged, wearing a mask depicting a raven and a peculiar tattoo on his bare upper arm, which identified him as an ANBU. "My eldest should go to the park with Sasuke, the one near the training grounds."

The ANBU vanished without a word.

"Now," Mikoto began as she turned back to her friend. "Let's talk names! I say we call her Miko!"

Hitmi's smile soured only the tiniest bit. "We have to adhere to tradition."

"What do I care about tradition! I say we call the little one Miko!"

Hitomi sighed. Well, this could take a while.

* * *

Itachi smiled gently as he evaded the little hands of his baby brother once more, causing the four year old boy to pout.

"No fair!" little Sasuke whined, stomping his feet as hard as he could on the ground, "Stand still, big brother!"

He laughed, quickly stepping forward to gently tap two fingers against Sasuke's forehead. A quick smile hushed over the boy's lips before the pout returned.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, trying to catch Itachi's hand.

"It's not going to be that easy," the older brother chided, "Come on, show me how fast you are."

"You bet I will!" Sasuke promised and ran after him, as he merely skipped a few steps backwards.

It was a warm Friday afternoon in Konoha and the two Uchiha brothers had gone out to play in a park not far from the Uchiha district, the one closer by the training grounds. Given that Itachi was already fifteen years old and almost halfway to graduating from the ninja academy, it was of course him who had to look out for his little brother since Shisui had suddenly ditched said duty. Itachi back flipped away from Sasuke, something that annoyed and amused the little boy to no end, and landed on the sand field of the playground. Looking down, he found that he had apparently stepped into a little pile of sand with some round stones arranged into it.

Oh, had he just stepped into a sand castle? He turned around and found a girl sitting right behind him. She had to be about Sasuke's age, maybe even younger given how tiny she was. She had long, red hair, pale skin and disturbingly violet eyes. And... was she glaring at him? Oh, what a glare that was! It actually made him uncomfortable. Her clothes were dirty and appeared to be too big for her, a simple white shirt with a spiral on it and baggy blue sweat pants.

He knelt down in front of her. "I am so sorry, I didn't look where I was going."

It didn't appear to appease the girl at all. Kami above, why was her glare so terrifying? Initially he wasn't sure why she unsettled him in the first place but maybe it was the guilt.

He looked around and found that there was no one else in the park. How very strange... Was this little girl all alone here? Sasuke ran over to him and looked from the destroyed and castle to the scary girl then at him. "Brother!" he accused, "What did you do?"

He sighed. "It seems I have accidentally stepped on this little missus creation here," he admitted.

"Oh you fool!" Sasuke exclaimed, chin held high and hands at his hips. Was he trying to emulate their father? "We have to help her build it back up! Our pride as Uchiha is on the line!" Yeah, he definitely was.

Itachi allowed a smile. "Of course," he said evenly. He looked at the still glowering girl. "May we help you?"

Her glare became more of a pout and she seemed more like a child to him than an apparition of the shinigami. After a moment, she nodded hesitantly. Sasuke smiled and simply sat down on the ground besides the remains of the sand castle. "We gotta make it big! Bigger than any before, don't you think so, big brother?"

He chuckled and crouched down across from his brother. He looked at the girl, whose eyes kept darting warily from him to Sasuke. "How big should we make it?"

She didn't say anything but eventually raised her hand as high above her head as she could reach, jumping a bit to get eve higher. Gods, that was so damn cute! How could something that cute level a glare at him that would have the Hokage quake in his sandals?

Itachi laughed. "Alright, we can do that." He had an earth affinity strong enough to allow that height, so why not.

So they began building a sand castle with this lonely girl. She didn't do much at first, the apprehension she seemed to harbor was unsettling Itachi greatly, but eventually she handed them stones and helped Sasuke dig out a moat. By the time it was half as tall as her, she actually smiled and once it was about as tall as her, with _thirteen _towers, three gates that actually opened and closed, a courtyard with a snowman (because why not) and a stick figure with a strip of red cloth atop the highest tower, she was giggling and bouncing away happily. Sasuke insisted on carving the Uchiha fan into a wall and the girl didn't have anything against it.

"It's awesome!" Sasuke stated seriously, "We will live in this once we grow up, right?" He looked at the girl who nodded quickly in response, her face red from all the laughing.

The sun was beginning to set, Itachi noted. They would have to return home soon. "Sasuke," he said, ruffling his younger brother's hair, "We will have to go now or mother will be angry."

Sasuke pouted. "Muuuh," he whined, "I don't wanna! I wanna play with-!" He stopped, blinking a few times before turning to the redhead. "What's your name?"

The girl was silent as she regarded both him and Sasuke before she got closer to his little brother and whispered something into his ear. He grinned, nodded and then tugged at Itachi's shirt. "Come on, we need to hurry home! Tomorrow we come back and keep building!"

So she wasn't going to tell him her name? Well, he would find out eventually. He waved to the little girl and he and Sasuke went their way. He looked back once they were at the edge of the playground and found an ANBU with silver hair crouch at the girl's idea. How very curious...

* * *

The little redhead crept silently into the small lodge at the edge of the merchant district. It was currently vacant, so no one would bother her there. But, to her immense surprise, there already was someone inside, sitting on the wooden stool she had dragged in just the day before. But the intruder's long purple hair changed the surprise to joy and she ran up to jump the woman.

She laughed quietly and placed the girl in her lap. "How was your day, Naru?"

A toothy smile was all she got in response. The woman shook her head. "You can talk to me, Naru, you know that right?"

The smile faltered and in a quiet, very quiet voice, she said, "But... they said I- I shouldn't speak..."

"Don't listen to them," the woman said and began combing the girl's long red hair, "They don't know what they're doing."

The redhead frowned sadly at the ground. "And... when will the old man tell me?"

"Soon," was the answer, "once you're ready. And me and your big brother will be right next to you then."

The little redhead smiled brightly at her. "Okay!" Hopping from the woman's lap, she ambled over to the cot that stood underneath the window and pulled a stuffed doll from the mass of blankets. "Now we play!" she ordered, thrusting her worn plush fox into the woman's hands. She liked this plushy. Her big brother had given it to her years ago, so long ago that she couldn't even remember! She'd hold onto it forever.

After a while, the little redhead was almost asleep on her bed, the woman asked, "Will you go back to the park tomorrow?"

"Mhm," she mumbled, snuggling into the blankets that were wrapped around her. "Made a friend."

The woman smiled. "And you will make many more. Goodnight, little one."

* * *

"What happened here!?"

When he and Sasuke returned the afternoon of the following day, they found the little girl again but their castle lay in ruins. She was kneeling besides it, pushing the sand back and forth listlessly. She was glaring defiantly at the spot but Itachi's eyes could see the moisture collecting in hers. He frowned and scanned the park. Back at the swings that stood at the edge of the clearing the playground was in, was a group of snickering boys who pointed at the little girl every now and then only to laugh even harder.

Sasuke was kneeling at the girls side, asking her what had happened. She didn't answer but her glare kept shifting to the group of boys. Even Sasuke seemed to understand what that meant. He turned around to him. "We can't let them get away with that!" he stated angrily. "They destroyed our castle!"

Itachi frowned as he looked at the boys. They appeared to be older than Sasuke, maybe eight, and seemed to be oh so very delighted by what they had done. Of to the left, where a few benches and tables were placed, Itachi saw what was most likely the assembled parents of those brats. He told Sasuke to stay put and walked over to them.

"Excuse me," he began with a polite bow,"but could it be that you saw what happened here?"

A rather wide bodied civilian woman spoke up eagerly once she saw the clan symbol on his arm. "Oh my, Lord Uchiha!" Itachi almost rolled his eyes. He really hated being addressed like that. "We did indeed. It was just our boys playing a bit."

"Yes, yes!" a woman - thin as a rail and with enough makeup to supply the entirety of the red light district - giggled, "They just so happened to go over that castle! Red menace shouldn't be there in the first place!"

Itachi frowned, not that they noticed, ranting as they were.

"Awful child, that is," the third woman at the table spoke up, fanning herself with a bright pink fan, "How they let her roam free is beyond me!"

"I see," he said, "Still, I must ask that your children apologize to her."

They all scoffed as one. "And why would they do that?" the wide bodied woman exclaimed, "The little monster shouldn't be here in the first place!"

"Yes!" the thin one agreed, sniffing primly, "Letting that _demon_ child have contact with our precious children after it destroyed our home! What _was_ the Hokage thinking!"

Itachi had heard enough to guess what they were talking about. He was about to glare at them with all his Sharingan given might when the silver haired ANBU materialized out of thin air atop the table.

"Ladies," he drawled in an utterly bored tone, "I must ask you to accompany my colleague here-,"He lazily pointed at a woman with deep purple hair that had soundlessly appeared besides Itachi, "-to be delivered to the proper authorities."

They all shrieked an wailed in protest but a simple genjutsu from the woman with the cat mask had them all nice and quiet in under five seconds.

"Law is law, ladies," the silver haired man drawled, "And you just broke one. Our young friend here is _just _a bit too young to hear that, isn't he?"

Itachi nodded once. He knew what this was about. Served these woman right.

As the cat ANBU left with the woman and their bawling children in tow, Itachi remained to talk to the silver haired man. "You look after her?" he asked. The man shrugged but Itachi took it as a yes. "Is it always like this?"

"Every single day," the man said, the laziness replaced by a grave and sad tone.

"Is she always so quiet?"

"She talks to me and Cat just fine but those fools taught her that they don't want to hear her speak." He stepped down form the table and walked, indicating for Itachi to walk with him. "Can I ask you and your little brother to spend time with her? You two aren't ninja, not yet at least, so there is no reason you can't talk to her."

Itachi nodded. If this girl was what he thought she was, then ninja where forbidden from having any kind of relationship with her that could sway her loyalty to the village. In retrospect, the law was more likely to cause the exact opposite, with the civilians acting like they did. The ANBU were generally prohibited from largely interacting with civilians outside of their duty in the first place. Her unique status also made it impossible for her to be adopted by a civilian household, not that these blind fools would have her.

"We will," Itachi promised, "And when I am no longer allowed, my brother shall continue on. We owe her that much."

Itachi could have sworn that the eye visible under the dog mask was smiling at him before the ANBU retreated into the shadows.

* * *

Naruko Uzumaki was the heir to the Uzumaki clan, a clan no one had seen or heard from since they secluded themselves on their island near the end of the third shinobi war. The only one that anybody actually knew about had been Kushina Uzumaki, the girl's mother. But it seemed that even her mother's standing as one of the most powerful kunoichi of all times, on par with Tsunade of the Sannin, couldn't spare the daughter the ire of the villagers of Konohagakure.

Even Itachi, who had not been specifically told about the circumstances, knew that Naruko Uzumaki was the container of the Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox, the monster that had attacked Konoha almost five years ago. It killed her mother and, because only an Uzumaki could possibly contain such a monster, the Fourth Hokage sealed the beast within the newborn girl, dying in the process.

The third Hokage was reinstated after his successor died and announced little Naruko, daughter of Kushina Uzumaki, as the beast's jinchuriki to the village, the savoir of the village and their heroine.

But it badly backfired. The ninja understood just fine, they knew of the Fourth's ability with seals and many even knew her mother, so they knew that the girl was all that stood between them and a walking calamity in the form of a fox as big as the next mountain. But the civilians did not. They couldn't grasp that the girl did not become the monster that was sealed inside her.

Kushina Uzumaki had been sent to the village by the matriarch of the Uzumaki clan, Izana Uzumaki, to establish a firmer connection between Uzushiogakure, the Village Hidden in the Whirlpools, and Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaf. There was, however, a reason no one was told about, which was the fact that Mito Uzumaki, the jinchuriki at the time, was getting too old to contain the nine tails much longer. Because Kushina possessed the same chakra restraining ability as her, she had been selected and hence sent forth to Konoha under the guise of improving the relationship with the village.

The fact that Kushina was Naruko's mother was no secret, the father however, was another story entirely. Because no other than Minato Namikaze, the fourth Hokage himself, was Naruko's father and because he had enemies far and wide across all of the Elemental Nations, it was decided to keep this particular detail a secret. Only a few people knew of this and that had been Kushina's and Mianto's closest friends.

Kakashi Hatake, the ANBU behind the dog mask, was one of those and had watched over little Naruko ever since she had been born and brought to the orphanage. On the first day he had been on duty a grand total of forty-seven villagers had tried to kill the infant girl, which caused the Third Hokage to decree it law that any harm done to the girl was punishable by death and that speaking of her status as jinchuriki to their children was severely punished as well.

That, of course, only ever did so much and Naruko grew up with the hateful and fearful glares from every villager she crossed paths with when she wandered the streets in search for something edible. The ninja that passed her would slip her scrolls filled with food and clothing, but interfering with a civilian's live was forbidden, even if said villager was bound to become a military asset to the village, so it was difficult for them to outright act without attracting the ire of the villagers.

The ANBU and other ninja, however simply never caught anyone at such an act. It just so happened that they looked away in that particular only was a problem when one of those fools caught them and they began acting up.

* * *

Itachi wandered though the busy market early in the morning, tasked with fetching the vegetables that his mother was missing to make her stew. Which meant he had been sent out to purchase pounds upon pounds of tomatoes. Two full bags of the big, round and red vegetable were in both his hands when he spotted a mop of red hair that could put the tomatoes to shame.

Little Naruko was just a tad off in the scene of this perfectly normal market. For where everyone else was perfectly happy and no worries seemed to cloud their minds, the redheaded girl was going though a trashcan that stood behind one of the food stalls. Her clothes were dirty and she looked like she hadn't slept in days.

Itachi almost never scowled, not in a way someone could tell he was doing it, but the sight angered him greatly. Naruko was, by law, just one of the poor kids that fell though the system when the orphanage was just too full and couldn't support them anymore. There weren't many street rats like that, but they were there. And that Naruko had to be one of them made Itachi angry. Kakashi was out on a mission, he knew that, and Yugao, the Cat ANBU, was probably somewhere nearby, probably scowling just as much as he did. There weren't many ninja on the market, the civilians however mad up almost all of the people present. Had it been the other way around, Naruko would already be on her way with food for days. No one would be the wiser.

But there already had been an incident where a bunch of people reported that a ninja had meddled with the normal life of a civilian. Of course it was just Kurenai Yuhi, a young chunin, getting Naruko some new clothes, but law was law and because the civilian part of Konoha made up more than half of their economical income, not even the Hokage could act like nothing happened lest he'd risk a boycott. It almost happened, after all, and the craftsmen all refused to do their work for a week, canceling weapon delivery, repairs and other things.

It was a shame, Itachi thought, that even though the Hokage was the most powerful men in the village and simultaneously he was just as powerless as the rest of them.

* * *

Naruko ducked into an alley, out of sight of the busy market she had traversed before. Her hunger was growing by the minute, hurting her poor tummy. She needed food... But she had used up all her money already... She shouldn't have bought all these tiny tarts from that old bearded guy. They had tasted terrible, just as terrible as they had been expensive. In fact, they hadn't tasted like anything edible at all!

Her stomach growled loudly, accompanied by a spike of discomfort, just short of pain. She moaned quietly and pushed on. Somewhere! Somewhere there just _had_ to be some food! She hadn't seen Cat or Dog in days, they were probably out on a mission. Actually, there were a lot less ninja in the village than usual, which only served to elevate the amount of hateful glares from _a lot _to _a_ _terrifying lot_.

Maybe she could eat with Sasuke? Mmh, then again... she wasn't allowed to enter the Uchiha clan district. They always escorted her out, the Military Police that is, but most of the times she found some sort of snack in her pockets that hadn't been there before. Naruko liked ninja. They were always nice to her, always helped her out. She didn't know what she would do without them, without Cat, Dog, Sasuke and Itachi, without the old man. Ninja were good people, _strong _people. She wanted to be like them. Naruko wanted to pay them back, all of them, for all the kindness and compassion they had shown her.

With but seven years of age, Naruko resolved to become a powerful kunoichi, just like the old man said her mother had once been.

Deep in thought, Naruko found herself in an almost deserted street, shops for ninja tools and supplies lined the cobblestone path. She smiled when a chunin, that exited a store with a wooden box, smiled at her, giving her a subtle nod. Her responding smile was so wide it hurt and she almost forgot that she was still terribly hungry. The dark haired man chuckled quietly at her. He reached into one of the many pockets that were sewn onto his dark blue pants and retrieved something Naruko couldn't see but out of the very same pocket something dropped right in front of her feet (which was amazing, given that the ninja stood about fifteen feet away from her). The man walked away without a second glance back, humming a slow tune that Naruko had heard from many ninja before. The _Symphony of Fire_, the old man had told her, it was called.

Naruko picked up what the man had left for her. It was a lollipop! And even her favorite flavor! She tore the wrapping off, savored the taste of sour apples and shouted after the man, "Thank You!" The ninja didn't stop, just waved his hand in a dismissive gesture without turning around.

The lollipop served to distract Naruko from her ever growing hunger for about five minutes. It was late in the afternoon, soon she would have to head back to her current hideout, a small house at the edge of the red light district. If she was too late, someone would probably spot her and she'd have to move away. She frowned, thinking about that. Naruko had grown to like the bed she had managed to assemble out of furs and a pillow that mystically appeared under her window one night. As she passed a stand she hadn't noticed from the distance, eyes downcast so she wouldn't meet any hateful eyes, a mouth watering smell enveloped her, forcing the redhead to stop dead in her tracks.

She spun to the left, her nose twitching lightly as she inhaled the hearty smell of whatever was being cooked up the the small stall. There was a sign proudly displaying a name, but Naruko couldn't read it. Not all of it, that is. Yugao and the old man had begun teaching her some time ago but they were busy people so all that Naruko could read on said sign was the last word. Ramen.

Kakashi had said that her mother more or less lived of that stuff so Naruko found herself longing to try it as well. Coupled with her empty stomach it was enough for her to forget that the civilians tended to try and usher her out. She passed underneath the flaps of cloth that provided the barest of privacy to any customers and hopped onto one of the many red stools that lined the wooden counter. To the far left of her, a man dressed in simple beige robes raised his head upon her entrance. The second he spotted the redhead, his eyes narrowed. He rose from his seating place and took a step in her direction. Naruko was staring at a pot of noodles that was cooking right in front of her and did not notice the man.

Right before the civilian could open his mouth, an man with a forehead protector stuck his head in through the cloth flaps. It was, however, not one of Konoha's headbands, but rather a horned one with the symbol for oil on it. His hair was stark white and red markings were seemingly tattooed under both his eyes in a fashion that greatly resembled tears. He was tall enough to have to bow his head upon entering and stared coldly at the beige clad man.

Said man immediately faltered, took a step back only to excuse himself and leave a wad of cash on the counter. The ninja, satisfied with the result, took up the stool at Naruko's side, who had yet to notice anything aside from the smell and sight of food. The white haired man smiled at her almost sadly.

"Hey there! Chef!" he called loudly, badly startling Naruko out of her trance. "Two big helpings of your best ramen!"

Naruko had not even noticed the tall man enter! She almost fell off her stool! Her eyes immediately found the headband and even though it did not have the leaf symbol on it, the mere fact that he was a ninja put her at ease. Now she felt quite uncomfortable, sitting there with no means to even order food. She squirmed, not knowing what to do, her hunger was constantly drawing her eyes back to where a middle aged man was now chopping vegetables and some meat.

With a heavy, sad sigh, Naruko was about to slip of the chair. She didn't want to endure the glares right now. And then... a bowl of steaming hot ramen was placed in front of her. _What?_ She looked up, the cook with squinted eyes smiled kindly at her.

"Here you go, little lady," he said, placing another bowl in front of the ninja besides her before he returned to his stove.

"B-But I don't have any money!" Naruko stammered, pulling her pockets inside out to prove her point. "I can't play for this!" It wouldn't be the first time some merchant had sold her something only to charge thrice of what she even had.

"I'm paying," the tall man said from her right, "No worries, kid." Naruko looked at him with wide eyes.

"Nonsense!" the chef exclaimed, and Naruko's half smiled faltered immediately. "That's on the house! Someone who can look at my food like she does, is entitled to a bowl like that at least once a day!" He grinned at the girl.

She blinked a few times and furrowed her brow in confusion. "W-What?" she squeaked. Had she misheard him?

The man laughed. "You don't have to pay me!" He stirred the noodles in the big pot. "Feel free to dig in!"

Her eyes grew misty and she swallowed harshly. "Thank you!" she pressed out before shoveling the delicious dish into her mouth, savoring the rich, salty taste in her mouth before feeding her empty stomach with it. It almost hurt, so much food after being hungry for so long and she never noticed that she was crying.

Naruko returned to the ramen stand, Ichiraku's Ramen, almost every day and made fast friends with Ayame, the daughter of the owner, Teuchi. She didn't meet the man with the white hair again after that.

* * *

Many laws that had seemed unrelated to the matter began backfiring on the Third Hokage. The law, stating he had to be impartial in all matters, prevented him from taking the girl in after the orphanage had become _too full_ to feed her. The law, that banned ninja from interfering with the civilians, prevented any of them from taking the girl in or helping her outright, lest they'd risk inciting the civilian's anger. No clan could take her in, even though they were allowed to scout talents among civilians, because she was a jinchuriki and could not be _"possessed"_ by one clan specifically lest the power balance would tilt and spark a revolution, something that had almost happened even without Naruko's indirect involvement. The Uchiha's almost-coup had been quelled by returning them to a more central position of the village. The details, however, were an A-Rank secret.

Naruko could not possess a house for she was under age, not even when the Hokage had managed to slip her name into the ownership of one in a ninja area. It was just waiting for her there, collecting dust until she would either be of age or become a ninja of Konoha. She was there, occasionally, and every ninja that saw her merely acted as if they hadn't seen her, would "drop" food, clothing and other things at the doorstep and then just go their way.

But aside from that, Naruko Uzumaki was but a street rat, one that most of the civilians couldn't stand the sight of, even if she was probably better off than most of the other street dwellers. So she'd live her live like this until she would be old enough to enter the academy. On that day, she would be granted a tuition and housing in student dorms that were more or less empty anyways. Not that anyone would want to live there after she moved in, for mostly civilian students would never even use these housings, given that they lived close by. The academy had been built very close to the residential area of Konoha, the one that housed mainly civilians, so not even a student living as far away as possible had more than a twenty minute walk to the academy.

It would take some time until Naruko could move into the dorms for she was barely eight years old and the enrollment age for the academy had been set to twelve since too many genin of the former generations were no more than emotionally crippled maniacs (Kakashi had been a very good example when the change was called for), for in their generation genin still graduated at the age of twelve or thirteen. It had been changed ever since the Fourth Hokage reformed the academy system to produce shinobi that were properly trained and educated to face the harsh ninja world.

* * *

Naruko huffed loudly to herself, crouching as she was. She could do this! She wasn't a scaredy cat! She'd show Kakashi! It was just Itachi! He was Sasuke's brother and she could talk just fine to him! She was a big girl! She was-

Psyching herself up, hiding behind the slide of the playground while the Uchiha brothers were attempting to build a new sand castle, one that _"would shame even the Daimyo's castle!"_ or so Sasuke claimed. Taking a deep breath, she grasped a stand of her far too long hair for support and began marching out to meet them. Her determination didn't waver - that was until he lifted is head and smiled kindly at her. She tripped over the plaster stones that lined the sand field and ate a mouthful of it.

Damn!

"Naruko!" she heard Sasuke call but someone was already helping her up again. It was Itachi, a look of amusement on his face, helping her up with one hand and wiping the sand out of her hair with the other. She blushed, opened her mouth and... squawked unintelligibly.

Fuc-!

Mhn, no, Yugao had forbidden her from using that word. Apparently it was a bad, bad word that only bad and stupid people like her big brother Kakashi used. Which... confused her. Greatly. Itachi merely smiled some more and just as Sasuke reached her side he rose to stand, still smiling, and returned to the half finished castle.

She ignored Sasuke and reached out to grab Itachi's pant leg, pulling him back. "I-!" she squeaked quietly before taking a deep breath and trying anew. "I w-want to be your friend!" She had stuttered in the beginning but found her strength in the end.

The Uchiha smiled. "Of course," he said bending down and pinching her cheek. "I'd be happy to call you my friend as well."

She squeaked, batting his hand away. "Hey! I'll get you for that!"

"Yeah," Sasuke chimed in. "Let's get him!"

* * *

Tenten's tongue poked out of her mouth as she peered down the range she had set up behind her father's shop, aiming to nail the target dummy that stood in between the trees at the edge of the property. The kunai in her hand was the one she had made herself, the very first one that didn't crumble away into dust and actually looked like one. She was just about to let it fly when a blot of red popped out of the underbrush surrounding the target. Tenten, who had taken a running start (because an eight year old couldn't possibly throw a kunai almost one hundred meters away from her), let out a startled breath and planted her face in the soft grass as she tripped over her own feet in an attempt to stop abruptly.

She chocked pieces of grass out of her mouth, spitting and blowing it away furiously. For a split second she glared at the green-brown spot the grassy ground had left on her cream colored shirt before she focused on the red distraction. Said distraction was currently wrestling with what appeared to be a dog. A pug, to be precise. The second the brown canine spotted her, it jumped off the redhead and sped into the woodwork.

"Hey! Come back!" the redhead shouted but made no move to follow. Instead, she pouted at the target that happened to stand just a tad to the left of where the pug had disappeared into the underbrush. Did Tenten imagine it or was the practice dummy, a straw filled one, shaking in fear? Couldn't be... She picked up her kunai and jogged over to the redhead, a girl, or so it seemed.

The red hair was distinctive. Very, _very_ distinctive. It didn't look natural at all, the deep and intense shade of red glinted in the sunlight like an infinite amount of crystalline threads of blood that pooled around the little girl. She seemed to be a bit younger than Tenten, maybe even a fair bit younger for she was quite short. Her clothes were worn and the light brown jacket she wore was at least five sizes too big for her.

"Excuse me?" Tenten called out, "You are sitting in front of my practice target."

The redhead squeaked in surprise and jumped at least five foot high into the air, grabbing onto a tree branch overhead. Wide violet eyes stared fearfully at her and Tenten had to blink a few times. Her hair almost reached the ground! Just how did she even walk around with it!? Tenten took a step back, the redhead appeared actually scared of her. Was it the buns? It must have! She brought a hand to the two balls of hair that crowned her hair, squeezing experimentally to see if they were still whole after her fall.

It elicited a giggle from the girl that still hung on the tree, causing Tenten to whip her gaze up again. "You look like a panda!" the redhead cheered suddenly. "Can you do my hair like that?"

"A... A panda!?" Tenten exclaimed in shock. She didn't look like-! There was no way-! Her face soured. That would explain the bamboo staff that her father had given her, deeming it "_fitting_". She pouted. Damn him! "I- uh, don't know," she told the redhead. Was she supposed to be insulted or happy that the girl wanted to have buns?

Abruptly, the girl dropped, flipping midair and landing on all fours like a giant red cat. In two steps she was in front of her. "Pleeeeeaaseee?" she begged, her lower lip trembling impressively while her eyes watered dramatically.

"Oh, uhm, okay?" Tenten was totally overwhelmed but it wouldn't hurt, would it? She didn't have any friends and her kunai could be thrown when the redhead possessed two buns of her own. Hm, maybe she was starting a new trend!

...

...

...

Maybe not.

Tenten scowled fiercely at the mass of her at her hands. How could she possibly...? There was just too much hair! The buns would be the size of her own head! "I'm sorry," she said, "But... I can't do your hair like that, there's just so much of it!"

With slumping shoulders, the redhead turned around. "Oh...," she let out, as if Tenten had just crushed her every hope and dreams.

She hastily backpedaled. "But I, uh, could braid your hair?!" she quickly suggested.

"Would you?" the redhead asked, smiling widely. Huh, her canines looked quite sharp.

"Yup," Tenten confirmed and let the mass of red hair fall down freely once more. And while she was busy sorting though the stands of red, an important question came to her. "Say, what's your name?"

The redhead turned, undoing the bit of work Tenten had done with the simple motion, and grinned almost shyly. "I'm Naruko! Uzumaki Naruko!" She grasped Tenten's hand and shook it enthusiastically, but her grips was still a bit hesitant. "And... your name?"

"I'm Tenten Higurashi," she introduced herself, "Nice to braid your hair."

Naruko giggled and settled back down. After a while, the braid was about half done, she asked, "What is that scarecrow for?" and pointed at the stuffed target dummy.

Tenten shook her head. "It's not a scarecrow! It's a target! A dummy!"

Naruko's head titled to the side. "A... dummy? Did it do something stupid?"

Tenten blinked. "Uh, no? I mean... it doesn't do anything it's-... No, it's a target. One you can practice on," she explained.

"Practice what?" Naruko inquired further.

Tenten hummed. "Things like Shurikenjutsu."

"Shu-... Shuriquen?" Naruko said, trying to repeat the unfamiliar word.

"Shurikenjutsu," Tenten repeated with a small smile. "The art of throwing weapons!"

Naruko gasped and she almost spun out of Tenten's grasp. "The stuff that ninja do!?" she asked excitedly, bouncing up and down a little.

"Yes, yes!" Tenten laughed, "Exactly like ninja!"

"Do you want to be a ninja?" Naruko asked excitedly.

Tenten nodded fiercely. "Yes! A great ninja like Princess Tsunade!"

Naruko hummed loudly. "A ninja princess?"

"Mhm," Tenten confirmed, "She's one of the strongest kunoichi there is!"

"Like my mother?"

"Who... who is your mother?" Tenten asked.

Now Naruko managed to spin out of Tenten's grasp. "My mom is Kushina Uzumaki, believe it!"

"Really!?" Tenten had heard of her, mostly in comparison to Tsunade's battle prowess. She was said to be one of the most powerful kunoichi ever, if not _the _strongest! "That's awesome!" And then she remembered that the woman was long dead and winced quietly.

"Yeah!" Naruko agreed fervently, apparently not at all bothered by the fact, "And I wanna be as strong as her one day!"

Tenten grinned. "I'm sure you will be."

In the end, it turned out that Naruko's hair was too long to braid for Tenten's small hands.

* * *

Naruko always liked sitting in the Hokage's office. It was warm, it was comfy and no one bothered her when he was with her. This time, however, the atmosphere in the office was almost heavy enough for her to bolt, had not both Kakashi and Yugao been with her in the room. She sat in between them, glancing from Kakashi to Yugao and then back at her lap. What was going on? Did she do something wrong? Had someone charged her with theft again? She felt the need to scowl. She was no thief! But... she had indeed stolen _once_ before. She just had to! Was that why the old man looked so serious? Because she stole an apple!?

"Naruko," the aged Hokage spoke, causing the redhead's eyes to snap up to his own. "There is something I need to tell you."

His tone was grave, his eyes hard. Naruko swallowed thickly and blindly reached to hold on to Yugao's shirt. "Y-Yes?"

Hiruzen leaned onto his table, as if to steady himself, and took a deep breath. "I have been keeping secrets from you," he admitted, "secrets that I had planned to keep from you for a very long time. But...," he looked at both Yugao and Kakashi, "it has been brought to my attention that I have been quite... _foolish_ in dealing with this." A smile hushed over his lips and he met Naruko's confused gaze. "Yugao and Kakashi, as well as the rest of ANBU and just over two dozen ninja have come to talk to me about this and it appears I have been reasoned with."

Kakashi made a nervous noise, looking out of the window and Yugao smiled somewhat sheepishly. Naruko didn't understand. "What... secret?" she asked.

The Hokage sighed. "The very reason that most civilians look at you with disdain and fear."

"Really?" Naruko gasped, tugging hard at Yugao's shirt. The woman took her smaller hand in hers and gave it a comforting squeeze. So this was it... She had waited so long to hear this...

"Yes," the aged Hokage confirmed, "It had been my plan to keep you from the truth until you graduated or became a chunin but... as I said, I have been reasoned with." He managed a tired smile. "It seems my shinobi all have a soft spot when it comes to you, Naruko."

Naruko smiled. Ninja were awesome! "So, uhm, what is, uh, _it_?" she asked nervously. "Why do they... hate me?"

"Because they're ignorant fools!" Yugao suddenly hissed. All eyes were on her and she cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Lord Hokage."

"No need, young Yugao," Hiruzen laughed, "for it is quite true. They are ignorant, for they do not understand, maybe because they _cannot_ understand. We have attempted to explain but they wouldn't grasp it so they decided to take the easy decision, which was to hate you."

"But for what!?" Naruko exclaimed.

Kakashi took her other hand in his gloved one. "Naru, do you know what happened on the day you were born?"

She nodded. "My... mom died protecting me and fighting the nine tailed fox," she said sadly.

"And fight she did," the Hokage said, "Without her adamantine chains, the beast would have gouged a deep wound into our village. You may have been told that the tailed beast has been defeated by the Fourth Hokage, but such a monster is, in fact, not a living thing, but a construct of sentient chakra. Therefore, it cannot die but only be restrained. Or... sealed."

"Your mother," Yugao said, continuing on, "was in Konoha for one reason alone, which was to become the container of the Kyuubi, who had, at that time, been sealed into Mito Uzumaki, the wife of the First Hokage."

Naruko's eyes widened. "My mother had that big bad fox sealed inside her?!"

"Yes," the Third confirmed, "And she would still hold it, if not for the fact that the seal that held the fox grew weak during childbirth, during your birth, Naruko. During the labor, the fox broke free and began attacking the village. We do not know how it broke free, the Fourth Hokage had been there to keep the beast at bay, but it escaped."

"What... what happened then?" Naruko asked, feeling so very small. Had it... been her fault? That the fox broke free? Was that why they hated her?

"After your mothers hold on the fox slipped, we engaged it in battle," the Hokage said, rubbing his forehead, "It destroyed a good part of the outer residential area before the Fourth teleported it away from the village. When we found him again... he was with you and your mother. And the Kyuubi was gone."

"And... what happened to it?" Naruko dared herself to ask. She didn't know where her thoughts were going or why she was so afraid, but both Kakashi and Yugao were still holding onto her and she drew a great deal of comfort from the contact.

Sarutobi remained silent, instead gazing intently at her, before exchanging looks with the two ANBU. Yugao scooped Naruko up and drew her into her lap, holding her tightly. Naruko didn't know why, but she felt like crying, so she clawed onto Yugao as a lifeline.

"I was the first to arrive," the Hokage began. "Your mother was holding you close, still protecting you even though she had already passed." A tiny sob escaped Naruko but the Hokage carried on. "The fox was gone, there was no trace of it and we knew that the fourth had to have done something. And..."

"... the only way t-to defeat it was to... to... s-seal it?" Naruko stammered, clutching her stomach. She wasn't as stupid as many thought and the clues were all there now. It would also explain the weird drawing, the seal, probably, on her belly.

"Indeed," Sarutobi sighed quietly. "We found you crying in your mother's arms, a seal still glowing on your tiny body. I knew without checking that it was now sealed in you, Naruko. You are the jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox. And because of all the grief and pain that the beast caused,the civilians decided that you were the monster reborn and poured all their pain and loss into their hate for you."

"A-Am I?" Naruko sniffled, "Am I a-... a monster?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Kakashi suddenly exploded, jumping out of his chair in a display of emotion so very unlike him. He knelt in front of the redhead and took her face in both hands, his thumbs swiping the tears away. "You are no monster, Naru," he told her, far more controlled than before but still more emotional than he usually was. "A bit loud maybe," he drawled with a smile.

"You are my little, feisty redhead," Yugao added, pulling her closer and kissing the crown of her hair, "One grumpy fox in a seal doesn't change that. We all love you."

Naruko smiled a teary smile, hiccuping ever so often. "Really?"

Kakashi caught her nose between his thumb and index finger. "Really," he confirmed with a smile as she squealed and batted at his hand. Yugao smiled as well and leaned down to blow Naruko a raspberry on her cheek, causing her to squeal even louder.

The Hokage smiled. Maybe all these ninja that had bugged him about this had been right. This was the right decision.

* * *

Kakashi was looking for Naruko. He never had much trouble finding her, though this time she seemed to have wandered a bit farther from the village than usual. He could sense Bear out at the training grounds, who was currently the one on duty. But once he got close enough, he could feel another chakra there.

Gai, his eternal rival.

"Oh kami, _no_," he muttered, speeding up considerably.

He found Bear in a state of shock, leaning listlessly against the tree he was perched on. Down below on the training ground that he had been watching was Might Gai and his mini-me-apprentice Rock Lee. They were training. Clad in _tight, green spandex suits_, shouting the word "Youth!" in ever increasing volume. And then, much to Kakashi's eternal and soul rending horror, a third, a _female_ voice, squeaky as it was, joined in with them.

"YOUTH!" the little Naruko bellowed at the top of her lung, hopping and jumping as she trailed after the two training men, trying to imitate their kicks and spins. Had Kakashi not been shocked out of his mind, he would have had to admit that little Naruko wasn't even doing it all that bad. But his mind couldn't register that. Not even his Sharingan could have had he used it. For Naruko was clad, from head to toe, in a green spandex she had obviously put on over all of her regular clothing. It clashed horribly with her hair and was far too big for her small body, causing both sleeves and legs to flail about as she twirled and spun, laughing madly in the ever ongoing chorus of "YOUTH!".

Kakashi dropped to is knees in despair. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Never had Kakashi been closer to accept the offer of the Yamanaka counseling sessions.

* * *

December was not a month Naruko liked very much. Her clothes only did so much to protect her from the cold and the way to her apartment (not really hers yet) would usually lead through the weird winter market the villagers were holding. She didn't want to be bothered by them so she took the long way around it, going though one of the parks she usually frequented with Tenten to do target practice, trying to hit acorns and other fruits off trees.

She grumbled under her breath as the snow began to wet her boots, causing the cold to creep into her feet. Damn it! Her feet had already been cold! If only being a jinchuriki would offer some kind of cool abilities to keep her warm. Sharp teeth were not useful at all! And her hearing didn't protect her from the damn snow!

But... she could hear something. Over the crunching of snow under her boots and the wind howling though the trees, she could hear voices. She raised her head out of her scarf and immediately regretted it. Fu-! It was cold! But over the whistling of the wind she could hear one word very clearly.

"-Monster!"

It echoed loudly in the park. Naruko whirled around to see if anyone had followed her but there was no one. She frowned and moved into the direction of the voice, intending to find out what was going on. Up in this direction was, as far as Naruko knew, the playground that she and Sasuke often visited. Since she always was there, others tended... well, not to be there.

"White eyed freak!" someone called, followed by a thud and a weak sniffle that carried painfully loud in Naruko's sensitive ears. "Bow and apologize!"

She scowled immediately, a fierce mask of disdain that had been forged in the years of her hard childhood, one that could even scare Itachi Uchiha, the prodigy that made ANBU barely a year out of the academy. Naruko did not tolerate bullies. She did not tolerate them! Fueled by a deep anger she stalked up the small slope that separated her from whoever would fall prey to her death glare.

Three boys, probably a bit older than her, maybe ten or eleven, were surrounding a girl with raven hair that seemed to tint blue in the winter sun. The girl was on all fours, cowering at the feet of her tormentors, who seemed to take an inordinate amount of glee in her suffering. Naruko bared her sharp teeth with a low growl.

"Hey!" she shouted angrily, "Let her go!"

All three of them turned around in surprise before they laughed at her. "Hey, look at that!" one of them crowed, "The freak has a freaky friend!"

The tallest of them kicked some snow into the cowering girls face. "So what? That freaky Hyuuga is-"

He spoke no more, for Naruko had already pounced. She slammed her forehead into the boys's nose with all her might and weight so hard that she could hear it crack and felt the blood splatter. As he fell back with a howl of pain, one of the other two grabbed Naruko's hair and pulled her off his friend, only for the redhead to jump, elbow first, into him as well. The air was driven from his lungs and he fell to the ground, gasping for breath. The third boy hadn't acted at all, obviously too stunned to do anything. When Naruko rounded on him, blood covering a good bit of her face with bare teeth, wild red hair and dangerously glinting violet eyes, he turned and fled, tail between his legs and way on his way to wet himself as an aftereffect.

Naruko took a few deep breaths as the adrenaline subsided. Just because, she kicked the tallest of them one final time before helping the girl to stand. Huge silver eyes with no pupil to speak of blinked owlishly at her.

"Wow," Naruko breathed, "You have _really _cool eyes!"

The girl blushed and sputtered. "O-Oh! T-Thank you!" Then she suddenly bowed at the waist, bumping lightly into Naruko. "I-I'm Hinata Hyuuga! S-Sorry to bother you!" she squeaked.

"Oh, uh, no problem," Naruko said, pushing Hinata back up. "I don't like _bullies,_" She kicked the one closest to her for emphasis, "at all! So it was only natural. I'm Naruko, by the way."

"I-It's nice to meet y-you!" Hinata stammered, bowing again.

Naruko laughed as she pushed her up again. "You stutter a lot, you know?"

Hinata bowed her head in shame only for Naruko to push it up by the chin. "And you bow a lot as well!" she giggled. "But your eyes are really cool!" A blush bloomed once more on Hinata's pale cheeks but she smiled this time.

Naruko dragged her away from the two groaning idiots. There was no need to be anywhere close to these fools when they got up. She took Hinata's hand and led her without so much as a thought or a word from said girl to the apartment that would one day be hers. They passed a very confused Hyuuga but the man said nothing and let them move past his guard post. He nodded in the direction of Kurenai, who was also on guard duty in this part of the town, who took this as her cue to cast a genjutsu over them to hide them from prying civilian eyes. It spared them the hassle of explaining why they didn't stop children from entering the ninja residential area.

The apartment was located very close to Kakashi's own home and Yugao's was even closer. Naruko had spent many nights in either home whenever they were in the village for a predictably long time. Even though Naruko's apartment should be empty, it was by now fully furnished. The furniture all mysteriously appeared overnight but even Naruko could have guessed who she owed the nightstand with the Uchiha fan on it to.

Hinata was dragged into the apartment that was located at ground level of a three story complex that extended half a mile into the district. In said complex, both Kurenai Yuhi and Anko Mitarashi lived, along with Genma Shiranui. Kakashi would have moved here as well, simply to be closer to Naruko, but found that the council, namely the elders, frowned disapprovingly at the favoritism that was obviously performed by almost every ninja in Konoha when it came to Naruko. The elders, in their function as advisers, were also the ones responsible for the relation with the civilian part of the population. Apparently it wasn't that easy for them to hide the blatantly broken laws, the ones that kept ninja from interfering with civilians, that well.

Naruko pushed her new friend onto the bed and hopped onto it as well. As the Hyuuga recovered from the wild ride to the apartment, the redhead grinned at her. "You okay?" she asked, tilting her head a little. Hinata, trying not to bow, just nodded and instead mimicked the angle Naruko's head had. The Uzumaki tilted her head further. "Are you from some kind of clan?"

"I-I'm from the Hyuuga clan!" Hinata confirmed, also tilting her head.

Naruko's head was now almost horizontal. "Knew it!" she laughed. "There was just no way that so many people had these cool eyes without being a clan!" She had met many Hyuuga that stood guard at various places in the village. Though... they never seemed to smile.

Hinata tried to mimic Naruko's posture but found her balance lacking and fell into a pillow instead with a startled "Uff!". Naruko laughed loudly, falling sideways as well, again face to face with a smiling, albeit blushing, Hinata. "Your eyes a more pretty- I mean, prettier, though!" Naruko assured her. "You actually smile! The others never do," she huffed," they are _soooo_ boring!"

Hinata smiled wider than before and nodded enthusiastically. "T-They really are b-boring!" she agreed in a rather small voice, as if someone could overhear them.

"Yeah, we gotta change that," Naruko said, suddenly all serious. It didn't make much of an impression, however, for she was still laying sideways in the bed, her hair messily sprawled out all around her. "So... Have you ever... been tickled until you peed yourself?"

Hinata blinked. "Excuse me-? EEEEEP!" She squeaked as Naruko's fingers dug into her sides, tickling her mercilessly while the redhead crackled madly.

At the age of nine, Hinata had set the record for doing the youngest walk of shame ever, going home without her panties, which had not survived the tickle war.

* * *

**A/N: That's a one shot for now. Please do point out if I wrote _Naruto_ instead of _Naruko_ anywhere or some other grammatical deadly sin. :3**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well... why not? Here you go. **

**It is possible that there's an unfinished paragraph in there, I dunno which one it was and I dunno what I even missed out on but it doesn't seem to disturb the flow, so Meh.**

* * *

"Class! Stand to attention!"

It was her first day in the academy, she had arrived nearly an hour early, waiting for Sasuke, and now that she and him where seated in the very back of the classroom, finally a teacher arrived. He appeared fairly young, a fresh chunin maybe, with a scar across the bridge of his nose, tanned skin and chocolate brown hair in a high, spiky pony tail.

"My name is Iruka Umino, I will be your teacher for your time spent here in the academy!" he called out loudly, "I expect all of you to be on your best behavior, do your utmost to become shinobi and learn how to strife though the ranks!"

To Naruko, the speech sounded fairly studied but she wouldn't blame him. In front of a class that consisted of more than forty bratty kids, nearly all of them civilians, she would have done the same. She scowled. No, she would have been chased out of the room before she could ever open her mouth.

Sasuke nudged her side, shaking his head. "Don't think about them," he said and Naruko damned that he knew her that well. "They will learn yet, no worries."

The fact that Sasuke knew about her tenant had come by more or less as an accident. She had loudly and tearfully complained to her big brother Kakashi that she wanted the thing out of her, that someone else should bear it and, well, Sasuke overheard. After Kakashi had explained to him what the matter was, she had expected Sasuke to glare and run away but he hadn't. "_If my brother knew and we still played, it has to be okay, right_?" he had stated and that had been the end of it. Naruko had never been that happy before.

"We will begin with the very basics!" Iruka announced. "What is a ninja?"

And then, Naruko was bored to death.

The lesson included what ninja did, what chakra was and what weapons they used. Maybe, Naruko grumbled to herself, she shouldn't have asked Yugao to teach her beforehand...

Then, almost at the very and of the school days, they talked about clans. The Uchiha, the Nara, the Yamanaka, the Hyuuga, the Akimichi, the Inuzuka and even the Kurama clan all had a student present in this year's class. And then, they talked about the Uzumaki.

"The Uzumaki are, as far as we know, a clan that consists purely of woman," Iruka explained, "A child born to an Uzumaki will always be a woman, no expectations are recorded to date. They are known for their red hair and violet eyes." Naruko could almost feel the eyes of the disbelieving civilians on her. "They have humongous chakra reserves, live almost twice as long as your standard shinobi and possess and incredible life force, one so strong that they heal and recover even from mortal wounds at incredible speed. How fast exactly is not recorded."

He paused, looking up at Naruko before continuing. "They are also known to be the only humans that can _safely_ contain the nine tailed fox, an immortal chakra construct." The murmurs were rising now and a few civilians were staring at her, wide eyed. She glared all of them into submission. She didn't know that this particular piece of information was part of the curriculum... "It is said that they are exceptionally skilled in the sealing arts and kenjutsu, the art of the sword. Kushina Uzumaki, one of the strongest kunoichi to date, was given the moniker "_Red Sword Princess_" after she alone defeated a battalion of Iwa shinobi during the third ninja war and held the front line almost singel-handedly before the Fourth Hokage arrived and ended the battle in under two minutes."

Naruko was proud of this fact, so very proud that her mother, who had also been a jinchuriki, had grown this strong. She herself would strive to do the same, to grow strong and powerful, to be able to fend for herself.

"But," Iruka continued, "For more than fifteen years, the Uzumaki have not left their village nor the island it is located upon. It is said that they were attacked, fended off the attacker and hence decided to close themselves off. But we do not know for certain. Konoha has not been able to contact them since."

His face grew serious as he scanned the students, specifically the civilian ones. "Naruko Uzumaki, who is present in this class, is the last Uzumaki of Konoha and the current jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. That is a secret to all civilians, bar those who attend the academy. You will not tell anyone younger or not attending the academy of this. Should you choose to reveal this information, you will be removed from the academy and you and whomever you have divulged this secret to, will be brought before a Yamanaka with the ability to take the information from you." He looked at Naruko, meeting her half-glare. "There is a law in place that prevents all those who are no ninja and too young to remember it that Naruko Uzumaki is the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi. Here you will learn to respect her and this law! if you cannot do so, you will now leave this room and never return!"

None of the clan children so much as moved but the civilians stirred restlessly, glancing at Naruko ever so often. And then, one stood and glared fearfully at Naruko. ut before he could even open his mouth Iruka was at his side, hand on his shoulder and face stern. "Is this your choice?" he asked him calmly, daring him to to anything but answer the question.

The boy, brown hair and dark eyes, glared one last time at Naruko before another chunin appeared in the room and both vanished in a body flicker.

"Anyone else?" Iruka called out, but no one moved. "Then all of you are hereby sworn to secrecy on an A-Rank secret! Should you fail an academy year, you will also be forced to surrender the information!"

* * *

Naruko was slightly stunned that the information had been revealed like that but Sasuke told her that it probably was better this way, because the civilians would be taught that she wasn't dangerous in the first place. As classes ended, Kakashi showed up and took her to the third Hokage. She supposed that he wanted to explain or maybe just congratulate her for not beating up any civilians. She had glared hard enough to make one pee his pants, though maybe she and the poor Inuzuka boy had been the only ones to notice.

The Hokage's office was rather plain, given that he was the most powerful man in this village, but Naruko liked it anyways. She had an armchair in there where she would sometimes sleep after a hard day. She would (almost every time) wake up to a new set of clothes that, so the old man said, had just happened to appear there with no owner to speak of, so she was free to take them.

Kakashi opened the door for her. "Milady," he drawled lazily as he bowed deeply, causing her to giggle.

"Naruko," Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage, greeted her from behind his desk, which was packed with two dangerously high stacks of paper, "How was your first day?"

"Nice, I guess," she drawled, trying to sound just as nonchalant as Kakashi always did. Then she giggled. "Nah, it was soooo boring! All we did was talk about clans and history!" She sobered up a bit and looked up at the man that was like a grandfather to her. "And we talked about... me."

He nodded. "Ah yes. Do you understand why they are being taught about you and your situation?"

She shrugged. "Maybe. Sasuke tried to explain but I was busy glaring at them."

The man sighed. "Well, then let me tell you why I thought it prudent to teach them."

And while Naruko wondered what "_prudent_" meant, the Third Hokage, also known as "_The Professor_", began his lecture. "As you have been told, there was a law in place that kept the fact that you are our village's jinchuriki hidden from civilians. That was done because they simply tend to misunderstand things that relate to chakra and the ninja arts as a whole. There had been a time they were afraid of ninjas in general because they could spew fire and command lighting and I did not wish for the children to fear you simply because they couldn't understand." He sighed. "I... failed with this law. And I am deeply sorry for that."

" 's okay, old man," Naruko said with a toothy smile, "Yugao always said, _what doesn't kill me makes me stronger_, so I guess I got plenty strong this way!"

The Hokage chuckled sadly. "Yes, Yes I suppose, but I wanted for you to have a normal childhood. At first, I even wanted to hide your tenant even from yourself, but ultimately I decided against it." He sighed. "Anyhow, some years ago as told you about the fox, I decided that, because ninja understood how sealing worked, they should learn of what you are and learn to respect you for it. So we taught them, even those who had already graduated. And it worked out this way, every ninja in Konoha knows that you are a heroine, little Naruko, and so will those civilians that simply don't understand yet. I promise you that they will come to respect you just as much as the other ninja do."

Naruko only needed two big leaps to launch herself over the desk, knocking over both stacks of paper, to hug the old man. "Thank you! Thank you so much, old man!"

"Think nothing of it," her grandfather laughed, "I owed it to you. Your mother would have had my hide. She probably still will once I meet her again..." he added as an afterthought.

Naruko had been told a lot of stories about her mother, either by Yugao, by Kakashi or the Hokage himself. Even Itachi, who had seen her once or twice when he was young, described to her how her hair was exactly the same as her mothers and almost as long. Naruko never cut her hair again after that.

She left the office after she forced the Hokage to tell her about her mother one more time and it seemed that he always had a new story for her. Kakashi brought her back outside where she saw a few of her civilian classmates pass by. They appeared uncertain as they spotted her and only one outright glared at her. It was a start, she told herself, and made her way home. Tomorrow, she would show them all just how amazing she really was.

* * *

The Hokage's plan did indeed work out flawlessly. It seemed that the first few weeks had the sole purpose of studying clans and their abilities and whenever the Uzumaki came up, it would lead to Iruka, or one of the other teachers, to emphasis just how important Naruko's role as jinchuriki was. The first civilian to approach her was a girl with strikingly pink hair and pale green eyes.

"H-Hey," she began nervously and Naruko almost fell out of her chair in surprise. She had almost been asleep! She glared at Sasuke, who was trying to contain his laughter.

"Uhm, hey," Naruko responded lamely, wiping a a bit of drool from her chin. "You are... Sakura, right?" Good thing she remembered the names from roll call!

The girl nodded. "Yes! I am! And I-... ah, wanted to ask you... if... if you want to have lunch together?" she asked uncertainly in a small voice.

Naruko smiled widely at the girl, displaying pearly white teeth and almost fang-like canines. They weren't really big but noticeable enough. It made her look like a vampire, Sasuke had said. "Of course!

The girl stared at her. "You... _really_ have... fangs," she said in awe.

"Oh, uhm... yes," Naruko confirmed, poking one of her sharp canines with her finger. "They aren't really useful though, I just bite myself with them!"

Sakura laughed and immediately apologized for it. "No sweat," Naruko said dismissive. "It _is_ pretty stupid. So, where you wanna eat?"

"The roof maybe?" she offered uncertainly.

"Great!" Naruko exclaimed, jumping up from her chair, almost knocking Sasuke out of his own. "Oi! Hinata!"

The raven haired Hyuuga in question squeaked in surprise before turning around. "Y-yes, Naruko?"

"Come on! Lunch on the roof!" Naruko shouted, dragging her out of the chair, leaving no room for excuses. She turned to Sakura, who was still standing one row up. "You too! Come on!"

"Ah-.. Yes!" And Sakura hurried after them.

Sasuke scowled at the door. "She actually forgot about me..."

And just then Naruko stuck her head in though the door. "Sasuke! What are you doing? Come on!"

Or maybe she hadn't. Sasuke hurriedly ran after them "Wait up, you crazy redhead!"

* * *

Naruko liked Hinata. She had met her one winter on her way back to the apartment that would one day be hers, sneaking though a park to avoid the crowded street. Some awful boys had called her names, one even pushed her! Naruko couldn't stand bullies, she didn't think twice before she kicked their asses. Yugao had shown her how to move, how to stand strong. The fact that she had unlocked her chakra by accident after watching Itachi, which subsequently strengthened her body, had also been very helpful.

She may have mortally embarrassed the girl afterwards though... After that, uh, _war_ that took place, which left Hinata to go commando, they met a couple of times and became fast friends.

Hinata was shy, like _really_ shy, but she had mostly lost this stutter of hers and it only ever showed up when she was surprised or nervous. She also blushed a lot, worse than any girl in those romcom things that Yugao tended to watch with her in the cinema. Naruko had called her eyes real pretty. Boy, she thought her head would explode, red as it got!

She and Sasuke tried to coax Ko, Hinata's caretaker, into letting her play with them and Itachi a few times. It worked out most of the times, but sometimes she had to train with her father and wouldn't show up for a few days. Naruko had decided that she did not like Hinata's father and this training they always did.

Sakura was also really nice. Naruko found she was pretty as well and didn't understand why she found her forehead too big. She always brought really good food. Food she would share with her on occasion, and was really good at controlling her chakra after they were taught to unlock it in the second week of the first year.

Speaking of chakra control... well, Naruko's was basically none-existent. Hinata had told her that she had so much chakra that she couldn't look at her with her Byakugan, the special eyes of the Hyuuga, without being blinded for a minute or two. Kakashi and the old man Hokage told her that it was normal for an Uzumaki to have that much chakra and, apparently, having a disaster entirely made up of chakra sealed inside her almost tripled her already huge reserves. She had twice, _twice_ as much chakra as the old man! As the Hokage!

The thought alone was ludicrous but after she managed to stick a stone to her forehead for a week straight, even her doubt began to falter.

* * *

Naruko pouted.

Hinata shrunk deeper into the couch.

Naruko pouted even more, cheeks reddening cutely.

Hinata merged with the cushions accompanied by a strangled, breathy noise...

"_Mmmmm_!" Naruko whined, "Come _on_, hime!" She tried to drag Hinata out of the couch, who valiantly wedged herself in between the cushions. "You just _have _to tell me!"

Hinata's already crimson face darkened even further. "I-! I, uhm!"

The Uzumaki pounced onto the couch, straddling Hinata's lap, who squeaked soundlessly in response. "Come one!" Naruko urged in a pleading whisper, "Tell me what you want!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had been visiting his ward, had just entered the main room. He blinked about four times before he pulled an orange book from his robes and incinerated it without blinking. This scene had been far too similar to one described in the book...

He scowled. If Jiraiya ever tried to _research _Naruko, he would neuter the man with his own to hands!

"A-Anything's f-fine!" Hinata stammered, "You d-don't need to-!"

Naruko jumped up, standing over Hinata on the couch, whose eyes went wide. Naruko was wearing a skirt. "But I _will _get you something! And your father can't do shit about it!"

"Language, dear Naruko," the Hokage chided, drawing the redheads attention. "And do keep in mind that you now wear a skirt. " Though he wondered where he had gotten that. Maybe Anko? At least this one was long enough, almost reaching her knees. But judging from Hinata's almost-aneurysm... was she wearing any underwear at all?

Naruko just scoffed but jumped off the couch anyways. "Hime won't tell me what she wants for her birthday!"

While Hinata emerged from in between the couch cushions, her face no longer mortally red, the Hokage laughed gently. "My, Naruko, you should think of a present by yourself." He ruffled her hair. "Hinata is your friend, yes? So you should have an idea, at least."

Naruko hummed and hemmed while pacing/bouncing though the room, biting her lip. "Maybe... Hmmm-" She stopped, eyes lighting up and she victoriously opened her mouth before shutting it again. "Nooo...," she moaned before resuming her pacing.

The Hokage watched her bemusedly. She would figure this out.

Eventually.

_Hopefully_.

...

Naruko ended up gifting Hinata a white stuffed rabbit that was as big as the Hyuuga was tall.

Well, maybe next time. It was a close call. Now Hinata had something to cuddle with, it just wasn't what the Hyuuga had in mind.

* * *

Once they started second year, they were taught the handselas, which Naruko knew ever since she had forced Kakashi to teach her by threat of burning his weird book. And while first year had introduced physical fitness and taijutsu, the second year introduced weapons to them. Every student had the options of specializing in a weapon of choice or further deepen their taijutsu, their hand-to-hand combat skills.

Naruko took the the sword like any Uzumaki would have and it further spurred her that Yugao was the instructor for the class. And while Sasuke also dabbled in it, he decided to stick with taijutsu. Hinata already knew she would only ever use her clan's way of fighting, the gentle fist (which Naruko doubted to feel gentle at all) but, given that her eyes could see over great distances, Hinata let herself be convinced to try out bow and cross bow. Sakura however, didn't seem to possess any particular talent for combat in general. That, however didn't seem like much of a problem. Since the second year also introduced medial jutsu and the basics of human physiology and first aid, Sakura found her field of expertise. With her ridiculously precise chakra control, it was almost as if she had been born for it.

* * *

There had come a day in Sasuke's life, as it would in any almost fourteen year old male like him, that he grew into puberty. He knew about it, read about, Itachi told him about it. What he hadn't known, was that Naruko went through the same thing! But apparently, there was a vast difference to consider between him, a young male, and Naruko, a girl going for woman.

_Fast._

Sasuke didn't notice at first, but Naruko was getting taller. She had always been kind of a runt, a head short of him and most of the other students, but nearing the end of their second year, Naruko experienced a growth spurt. And Sasuke realized that, for woman, this did not only include height.

Maybe he should have guessed it, given that he had never seen a girl with a chest like his mother had, so it must have grown on them at some point, he just _didn't _expect it from Naruko! Because, come on! She was-! Just-! Naruko!

And yet, as they were doing laps around the training area one afternoon, Sasuke noticed that Naruko's chest bounced. Only a tiny bit, but he was an Uchiha, his eyes noticed just about everything. So, Sasuke may even have noticed the swell of Naruko's breasts before the girl herself did! She was kinda thick like that...

Naruko wore a tightly zipped training suit, a crimson one that clashed terribly with her hair, but perfectly outlined her silhouette.

So young, hormone filled Sasuke looked at her, blinked, looked again and fell flat on his face mid run.

He had never been more embarrassed in his life and Naruko, who somehow found out just what he had been staring at, made a point of bouncing besides or in front of him whenever they had their exercises.

* * *

Sasuke sat with the other boys from his class in the shade of the great cherry tree that dominated the yard behind the academy, eating an apple. They had finished their physical exercise and were now waiting for the girls to be done with their kunoichi lessons.

Whatever that was.

Sasuke didn't know that it mostly concerned how to properly deal with their growing bodies.

Conversations about various things, about weapons, fighting, training, food and shogi were all blending in to each other, too much for Sasuke to pick them all up at once. He had tried training his hearing to be able to focus on many things at once but there was still a limit to it. Three or four conversations at once he could follow no problem.

Therefore he heard loud and clear when Kiba suddenly said to Choji, "Whoa! When did Naruko grow that butt?!"

Every single boy in the courtyard turned around as one, even the lazy Shikamaru. The girls were leaving the main classroom building as little groups; Naruko, Hinata and Sakura being one of these. As far as Sasuke could tell, they headed to where Tenten was conversing with a few girls from her own class, a year ahead of them. No one but him seemed to pay any mind to that. All the male attention was indeed focused solely on the fact that Naruko wore spats. _Tight_, black spats and a rather short shirt that revealed just the tinniest slither of her pale skin.

Sasuke crushed the apple he had been eating in his fist.

Out from the corner of his eye he could see Kiba's tongue loll out of his mouth and, with a growl, the Uchiha elbowed him. Hard enough to bodily throw him to the side, which effectively ended the spell Naruko's rear had cast upon them.

"Oi! What's the big idea?" Kiba rumbled, rubbing his sore ribs, but Sasuke ignored him.

He needed to talk to Itachi. _ASAP_!

* * *

He found him easily enough. Just after the young ninja returned from a mission, he would always take the time to sit in the courtyard of the main house of the clan and enjoy the quiet atmosphere. Sasuke felt almost guilty for breaking him out of it.

Almost.

"Brother!" he shouted urgently, "Naruko is a _girl_!" Well... he was confused. Though he could have probably articulated that better. Itachi merely regarded him curiously, almost amused as it seemed to Sasuke.

"Is that truly any news?" the older brother asked.

"No! I mean, YES!" Sasuke argued, more with himself than Itachi. "She-! I-! Her Chest and- and butt-! _Spats_!"

Itachi sighed. "Oh brother, didn't we talk about this? It is only natural for her to grow into a woman." He beckoned Sasuke to sit besides him. "And I also remember telling you that a woman's hips widen naturally to accommodate the fact that she could bear a child. Her chest expands to feed said child. I distinctively remember telling you about that."

"You did!" Sasuke moaned, burying his face in both of his hands. "It's just-!" He fumbled helplessly for a word. "Strange!"

"You mean you caught yourself staring," Itachi told him bluntly.

Sasuke reddened considerably, but nodded in shame.

His older brother chuckled quietly. "Don't be ashamed, Sasuke. It is more or less natural for you to stare."

"How is that natural!?" Sasuke hissed.

"We are creatures of instinct," Itachi told him, "And our drive to thrive and live is tightly intertwined with the need to reproduce and continue on our line."

Sasuke's mouth fell open. "R-Reproduce!?" He wanted to-... to have s-_sex_ with Naruko?!

"Don't overthink this, little brother," Itachi said, nudging his bright red head. "It is an instinct. You are a healthy young man and your primal instincts merely told you that you could bring yourself to have children with Naruko. It is not as absurd as you think and it is certainly not something absolute."

"But I _can't _have children with Naruko!" Sasuke exclaimed vehemently.

Itachi raised an amused eyebrow. "Oh? You can't?"

"She's like... my sister or... or _something_!" Sasuke explained quickly.

"Well, I didn't tell you to give in on your instincts, did I?" Itachi said, smiling lightly. "We are human and while we possess instincts that are not unlike those of mere animals, it is the fact that we take control of these instincts that makes us more. It is part of what makes us human." Sasuke frowned at him, prompting Itachi to chuckled a bit louder before he tapped his little brother's forehead with two fingers, pushing him back a bit. The boy grumbled in annoyance.

"I'm telling you, Sasuke, that, if you don't want to feel that way for Naruko, then you don't have to. What you did fell, however was merely an impulsive thought, caused by age old instincts. Worry not. I don't think you'll feel like that too much."

He stood and stretched his limbs as he began to walk back to the house. "Unless you fall in _love_ with her, of course."

"_Love_!?" Sasuke jumped to his feet, almost falling off the veranda as he chased after his brother. "What do you mean, love!?"

* * *

In third year, they were taught basic survival jutsu, like drain water into a canteen, cooling the temperature around them to avoid overheating or making fire. It was also the year they tested their nature affinities. This way they could find out which element their chakra took the easiest to mould into. Hinata possessed the strongest water affinity since the second Hokage, her paper didn't just get wet, it almost liquefied and produced a puddle at her feet. Sakura possessed a strong earth affinity and a minor one for water. Sasuke had two very strong affinities for lighting and fire.

And Naruko herself, well, the teachers and the director and later even the Hokage, assumed that it was an extraordinary affinity for lightning. _Red _lightning. Sasuke's paper had sparked as well but the color had been this plasma blue-like color one would usually associate with lightning. Naruko's was a bright red that had arched out to her hands and into the surroundings, zapping Kiba's hair and singeing it, who scowled at her for the rest of the week. Apparently not even her mother's had been this strong and definitely not red. They suggested it might be an Uzumaki thing but they'd never know unless they'd ask an Uzumaki about it. Naruko decided that she had to visit her clan one day and the old man actually agreed!

He promised to send her on a mission, a diplomatic one, to Uzushio once she became a genin! She couldn't wait!

* * *

Yugao had always known that Kakashi's reading habit would one day come back to bite him, but she had not meant that literally. Nor had she been serious about Naruko being an ankle-biter, but after the Uzumaki came across one of Kakashi's prized books... well...

She had returned from a mission and decided to visit Naruko, as she always did after returning. She knocked on the door and entered without really waiting for a response. She had a key anyways. In the living room that doubled as Naruko's bedroom, she found Kakashi standing behind the couch that was obscuring her sight on the lower half of his body.

"No, little one," he chided his...(?!), "No biting."

Was he actually talking to his..? What the actual-

"But in the book it said that men thought it was nice!" Naruko's voice whined from behind the couch and Yugao was immensely relieved. At first. She needed to round this couch!

"I'm back!" she called out to them.

Kakashi looked up and eye-smiled at her. "Yo- OW!"

"Stop whining!" Naruko mumbled, "The book said it would be good! Maybe I should try..."

Kakashi winced again. "Get off my leg, Naru...," he drawled, wiggling said leg. He sighed and was about to say something when his flight or fight instinct kicked into overdrive. He turned slowly, ready to defend himself and Naruko with his life. He faced the haunting guise of the shinigami, purple hair framing a furious, yet deathly calm, Yugao.

"Ka~ka~shiiii," she purred lowly, "What did you give little Naru to read?"

He paled, his skin became as white as a sheet. "Oh, nothing," he stammered hastily, "Just-"

"Icha-Icha Paradise: The Vampire in Demand!" Naruko shouted proudly from the carpet.

"Is that so~?" Yugao drawled, drawing a kunai, inspecting the deathly sharp edge.

Kakashi swallowed. "Oh, uhm, that-" He coughed. "It isn't mine?"

"I'm sure it isn't~," Yugao said sweetly. "Naru? Me and your big-and-as-good-as-dead brother will go for a walk, won't me?"

Kakashi whimpered. "Yes," he pressed. "We will be right back, right?"

"Oh I will be," Yugao assured.

Kakashi was absent from active duty for a week. Naruko never got to read the book again.

* * *

"You really shouldn't bind your breasts down, Naru," Hinata advised sagely from the bed in Naruko's dorm room.

The redhead huffed, tying a knot into the bindings over her chest. "But they are so annoying! And heavy! Why do they even get so big!?" she lamented.

Hinata managed to control her blush as the binding ripped and fell to the floor in a flutter of fabric. Oh, never mind, Naruko had turned around, pouting at her. Hinata quickly averted her eyes. "T-They call them assets for a reason, Naru," Hinata squeaked out.

"An asset for what?" Naruko huffed, going though her closet to find a sports bra. "They just get in the way all the damn time! I can't even do real push-ups anymore!" She arched her back with a tried grunt. "And they are So. Damn. _Heavy_!"

Hinata took a deep breath to calm herself before she even attempted to say anything more. "They can't be that heavy." Hinata wasn't that far behind Naruko in terms of... _growth_. And her back was fine.

Most of the time, that is.

"Oh yeah?" Naruko challenged, glaring at her. "You tell me!"

That said, Naruko grabbed Hinata's hands and used them to cup and lift both her breasts.

Hinata blinked slowly about three times before she fully registered what was even going on. Her hands were enveloped in silky, warm softness. She blinked a fourth time. Hm, it seemed that Naruko had really outdone her in terms of growth after all. Her soft skin was pale and it shouldn't be able to feel that silky to the touch. As she blinked the fifth time, she did have to admit that they did have a lot of weight. Experimentally, she slightly lifted one hand a bit, causing her hand to sink even deeper into the supple flesh. She swallowed dryly and blinked a sixth time before reality seemed to catch up to her. Naruko's breasts were just so too big for them to fit into Hinata's hands, as small as said hands may have been. The expectantly raised eyebrow did not fit into this picture at all and Hinata wasn't sure how to react.

Thankfully, she didn't need to.

Her body decided that enough was enough and once she blinked the seventh and final time she simply fell backwards onto the bed, fainted dead away and skipping the blushing entirely. The image of Naruko's breasts in her hands forever burned into her memory as she smiled somewhat dreamily at the ceiling.

* * *

In their fourth year, there was sealing, fuinjutsu and _lords above_, Naruko _loved _it. She was throwing around paralysis seals and paper bombs the second day they were taught when others were still practicing their writing! It came easily to her, the letters spoke to her as if they were alive! But even she wasn't perfect and once she had sneezed while drawing an explosive tag (which blew up Kiba in the row in front of her) she wasn't allowed to advance this fast without being supervised. She had practically torn off Kakashi's pant leg that day, trying to get him to look over her shoulder in class.

She had pouted at him.

He had given in in under twelve seconds.

That was just the way things worked out!

* * *

Hinata knew she didn't have to be nervous, but it was Naruko's birthday again and the Hyuuga wasn't sure if her present was good enough. Naruko had spoken about getting a new vambrace for her off-hand and Hinata, who could pretty much remember every word Naruko had ever said to her, had of course been elated that she had found something to gift her best friend.

She had sold the idea to her father as _forging alliances with the Uzumaki Clan _and, in a bout of sheer benevolence even allowed her to commission a vambrace from the best arms smith in Konoha! Hinata gave a description so detailed that the smith had been forced to write down her instructions lest he'd forget them. The armor piece turned out beautifully, the chakra conductive metal could withstand temperatures that not even Naruko's lightning could reach easily. It was built to encase most of her forearm, eighty pieces of sleek, burnt red metal that had the Uzumaki swirl engraved on the singular piece of the armor that went up her upper arm and would proudly display her Clan's symbol like a badge. It was the opposite of bulky and would accommodate Naruko's every move.

She knew she was early when Naruko opened the door for her, still half asleep and only half dressed in a long, white tee with no bottoms Hinata could see.

Not that she had looked!

"Oh, hime," she mumbled, smiling a dopey smile, "Get in, I just... need a minute."

It turned into fifteen minutes before Hinata found her asleep on the bed, snoring softly.

It took Yugao and Kakashi's combined force (mercilessly tickling Naruko) to fully get the birthday girl to wake up. Seeing a now fifteen year old girl get tickled like that was highly amusing but Hinata didn't _dare_ join! She would have to... to _touch _Naruko! In indecent places! And... make her squirm and moan and-!

The memory of her holding Naruko's breast in hands made it's way back to the forefront of the Hyuuga's mind.

Hinata's head steamed by the time Naruko rolled out of the bed and right into a hug from Yugao. Kakashi was next and then she practically threw herself at Hinata with a wide, toothy grin.

"H-Happy Birthday!" Hinata squeaked, trying not to fall over with the redhead attached to her neck, while simultaneously trying to get her neatly wrapped present to the birthday girl.

The amount of "_Thank You!_"'s Hinata received in response was, let's say, _excessive_. And because she was still early, Naruko dragged her to the closet to discuss with her which uniform to wear. Hinata proposed the idea of conventional clothing, which lead to clothes in various shades of red, crimson, purple and everything else that screamed Uzumaki. Every piece of clothing that Naruko possessed seemed to have the clan symbol sewn on somewhere.

Even her panties.

Hinata would forever deny that she knew about that.

Sasuke was the next to arrive, his older brother in tow. If Hinata had to guess, then Sasuke's gift was either a sword or- Well, it had to be a sword. She could see the handle clearly through the warping. Itachi presented a bowl, presumably for ramen, with the Uchiha fan on one side and the Uzumaki swirl on the other. Hinata though it was a nice gift, inside of it there were far too many coupons for Ichiraku's ramen stand.

Typical.

Sakura and Ino both burst into the apartment at the same time, presenting the same present, a stuffed Fox plushy that resembled the one she already had, and then kept either bickering or chatting with Naruko or herself.

Tenten handed her a lot of things, one of them being a set for taking proper care of her sword. The other were hand forged kunai knifes with the Uzumaki emblem engraved into the handle.

Yugao had stopped Kakashi from gifting Naruko one of his books, while the woman herself presented an ANBU-styled mask with engraved whiskers and a the Uzumaki swirl in red on the forehead of the white mask.

When Naruko was tearing open Hinata's gift, the Hyuuga wondered if she hadn't been a bit... excessive with it. The vambrace matched with most of Naruko's clothing and certainly fit with the mask. Would she like it? Be disappointed? Sad? Oh, Hinata couldn't bear seeing Naruko sad! She always smiled, eve if it was fake at times. As headstrong as Naruko was, she wasn't overconfident and Hinata was almost certain that, at some point, Naruko had been ashamed of her own body. Mostly probably her striking red hair.

Now, at fifteen, Hinata would have described Naruko as _extraordinarily_ beautiful. She was losing her childish features, which were replaced by elegant lines and a level of kindness and gentleness that shouldn't be visible in mere facial features. But there was also a fierceness in them that could have you quake in your boots once she'd decided to level one of her violet fire glares at you. Kakashi said that her mother had been the same and that it was probably an Uzumaki thing.

Hinata had been deep in thought-... well, she had been staring blankly at Naruko, so she was just the tiniest bit startled when Naruko suddenly hugged her fiercely, the vambrace already strapped to her arm. It seemed like a perfect fit.

"I will never take it off again!" the redhead promised.

The entire room cringed, because they knew very well that Naruko would pull that off easily. The Hokage had once gifted her a shawl and Naruko wore it until the threads came apart and it smelled like a wet dog.

Kakashi took offense to that comparison, as did Pakkun, his dog summon.

* * *

In fifth year they were taught combat related jutsu and all that weird kunoichi stuff. Naruko couldn't have cared less about the difference between boys and girls but was glad not to have some awkward bits dangle between her legs. She had excelled at pretty much every aspect of the academy so far, not counting those bushins, but _seduction _was not up her alley.

Anko, the rather young instructor for this particular class, had called her _as sexy as a five foot tall brick wall_! The nerve of her! But once she asked her friends if she was sexy, no one would agree! Hinata even fainted! Hah! She _was _sexy! Just because she refused to wear nothing but a mesh armor! Screw that woman!

Anyhow, Naruko was elated to see that Kakashi was teaching the lightning jutsu to the class. The only weird things was that her lightning jutsu were all red and apparently at least twelve times as hot as your standard lightning. Well, that only meant that she couldn't charge a standard sword with lightning chakra. She had tried once. It flash melted. Yugao scolded her for half an hour straight!

Hinata discovered that she could draw water out of the very air, which was something the second Hokage had been famous for. Praising her for it, Naruko almost got Hinata to faint again. The Hyuuga learned to form senbon needles out of water and use them in her gentle fist palm strikes, not only seriously messing with her targets chakra with a hit but also turning them into temporary pin cushions with those water needles.

Sasuke was one of the few students that managed to combine two natures into what was called a sub element. Usually that required a bloodline to use to full extent, so Sasuke was stuck with the simmered down version of what was called the "Blaze Release". It was said that many Uchiha, with proper training, could fully utilize this sub element.

Sakura was already being referred to as a medical prodigy, her skills were praised to come close to Tsunade of the Sannin at that age. Naruko often stopped by her to heal an injured hand after she overdid it in her sword training or burnt herself with the _Great Fireball Jutsu_ that Sasuke had taught her. She was always complaining and hitting her head but would heal her anyways.

Sixth year was basically advanced nature manipulation and the use of these to augment ones own body. Not everyone managed that, but it wasn't expected. Hinata, for one, could basically breath under water. She said it was more complicated than that, but it amounted to her breathing under water. Sasuke could freely control a lightning strike in his hands without molding the chakra though seals or words and Naruko even went so far as to speed herself up using her red lightning. She officially became the fastest student the academy ever had, even faster than the Fourth Hokage had been, but _without_ his Hirashin. Naruko wasn't that fast just yet.

Seventh year was training missions, psychological coaching and strategy, the latter almost entirely passed by Naruko. She couldn't bring herself to think that far ahead, but Shikamaru Nara, the lazy one, proved to be exceptional at it. The steps he foresaw and took into consideration! And the speed of it! Naruko was seriously impressed, even if she only got half of what they boy even mumbled all day. It was also in this year that they were _"specialized"_. They were basically sorted into a what they excelled at.

Naruko and Sasuke and, surprisingly Shikamaru ended up in "Assassination." It didn't sit too well with Naruko but she could understand why she was there.

Hinata, together with Shino, was in the "Scouting and Tracking" group. Choji and Kiba got out on "Large scale Assault" and Ino, as a Yamanaka, was in "Interrogation and Information gathering". Sakura was, of course, in "Medical and combat support". These groups would then be used to put together teams at the end of the next year with a Jonin leading them. But before that, there was the final exams and, something Naruko knew Hinata dreaded endlessly, the first kill.

Their eighth and last year was simply refining skills, getting to their physical top condition and doing guided mission under the supervision of a few Jonin and chunin. It was during these missions that one was required to take a life, by any means there were.

It was Sasuke, guided by his own brother, who first took a life. He had a strange look in his eyes when he returned. "He deserved it," he had said shortly, but he didn't look that convinced of his own words.

Shikamaru had been next to do it and scowled for a week straight before he accepted what he had done. Ino had apparently poisoned someone and was sick for a week after it. They said the man died slowly... Choji didn't want to talk about it and Kiba kept scrubbing his nails for a while after he returned.

Then, about halfway though the eighth year, it was Naruko's turn.

* * *

They were up north, close to the borders of the Land of Iron, where a small village was located that was said to hold the boss of a human trafficking organization. Said to be was a good one, Naruko knew that it had been worded like that for the mission's sake, a bunch of chunin had already scouted and more or less secured the whole village before she even moved out. Kakashi was there to accompany her and Yugao would await them on site. She could do this, she told herself, and she would be stronger off it.

"We're here."

Kakashi's voice almost startled her so much that she missed the last tree branch to stop on before they would enter the village boundaries. Naruko took a calming breath and surveyed what she could see of the village through the foliage. It may have been night, but it was too quiet. She supposed that that was the work of the chunin that had selected this mission as hers to finish.

"Should I begin?" she asked, gripping the handle of the sword that was strapped to her lower back tightly.

Yugao landed at her side. "Be at ease, little one," she told her with a smile, "We will be there to intervene at any moment. Nothing can go wrong."

It was just like the other missions, Naruko told herself. Just like those she had done before. Only now... she would have to take a life, to extinguish the music of a beating heart. She took another deep breath. "I'm ready," she assured.

Kakashi nodded. "Good. You will have to find your target first. Have you memorized him or do you need to see the file again?"

She shook her head. Naruko would probably never forget the face of the balding man with the golden eye patch. Not after she'd look in his eyes as the life left them. "I remember," she said hoarsely.

Kakashi squeezed her hand encouragingly. "You will be alright, even if it won't feel that was at first. Taking a life is a burden we shinobi bear, but we bear it with pride. This man does not deserve to continue drawing breath and that is why we are here."

"A slave trafficker," Naruko began to recite, "48 years of age, 5 feet 9 in height, high blood pressure and a history of chest pains, probably a heart disease. Wanted in the Land of Fire, Land of Wind and Land of Iron for murder in eight cases, burglary, fraud and unproven mentions of... rape." She grit her teeth. This man would die by her hand and she'd never know his name.

And she would do it right.

Naruko had grown to be a beautiful young woman at nineteen years of age. Her red hair was long enough to reach her calves in it's untamed state, though she kept it in a thick braid when she was on missions that she could carry like a scarf at times. Sasuke found it looked hilarious though Hinata insisted that it was _fashionable_. They said that her facial features resembled her mothers round face, though she kept a sharpness that could only have come from her father. Even Sasuke had, at knife point, admitted that she was quite beautiful and since Naruko did not like being stared at, be it by the civilians or the enemy combatants, she took to wearing a face mask not unlike Kakashi's, and the ANBU-style mask Yugao had gifted her in addition. Her facial mask, however, was a deep crimson in color, unlike Kakashi's grey one. Aside from that she wore the standard shinobi attire in deep crimson with a black flak jacket for all her assorted scrolls and seals and the vambrace Hinata had gifted her. An addition had been made and it now included a glove as well so to protect her hand from damage.

The blade on her back was a short sword, the preferred weapon of a ninja that would often find himself in enclosed spaces. In addition to the sword, Naruko carried a sealed Katana with her, one that was actually able to resist the full heat of her Red Lightning release for a full minute before it would bend and melt out of shape. Over time, the Hokage officially named it a bloodline limit, given that she could even increase the heat to the point where she could flash melt even the blades forged from the vulcan stone, a mineral usually used in forges to found metal at ultra high temperatures.

"I will await you at the target location," Yuago told her and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Naruko nodded to herself. "Right, let's do this."

"And I'm sure you can," Kakashi's voice told her but he was already gone from the tree. With one last calming breath, Naruko set out on her mission.

* * *

Yugao watched attentively as Naruko glided nimbly over the shadowy rooftops and the empty alleyways. It was required of Naruko the finish this mission completely unseen. And while all actual combatants had been removed and the target was under a genjutsu that put him in a tranquil state of mind, civilians weren't blind either. There were chunin all thought the area who would observe Naruko, in an ideal case, they wouldn't see her at all. Up until now, about halfway to the target's location, no one had spotted her. Not even the chunin. Yugao was very please by that, she would have kicked her ass if she hadn't been careful enough.

Naruko arrived her side quite fast, and Yugao could see that smile under the mask, even though it was tense.

"You are doing well," she told the redhead, "Now, the target is inside. I wish you luck."

Naruko nodded and began searching for an easy entrance. As Yugao had guess, she took the way in though the skylight. It led directly into the room the target was sleeping in. At the academy they were taught to always expect traps so it was not a big surprise that Naruko didn't just drop down, but let herself down into the room with a lot of ninja wire.

Yugao watched from a window how Naruko scanned the room and almost immediately found the man that was sleeping in the bed. However, she didn't immediately go for the kill. Good, she was first confirming the target's identity. The golden eye patch was off on the nightstand, the hair was the same, the same scar as in the report, Naruko checked it all. She drew her blade noiselessly, but Yugao could see the hesitation in the movement.

It was a simply action, stabbing the heart through the side of the thorax. It killed instantly and the cleaner the stab the less of a mess it made. Should Naruko strike decisively enough, the man wouldn't ever be aware of it. He'd die in his sleep.

She lifted the blade in a reverse grip and held it aloft over the man. Yugao saw her chanting something to herself before she struck.

* * *

It was a clean hit, straight through the heart. The man never even twitched, merely one last breath escaped him. Naruko stood frozen over him, eyes trained on the blood that was slowly seeping out of the wound with the blade still deeply embedded into the dead man. She had killed him with her sword, silenced the beat of his heart forever more. She took a step back but the blade wouldn't come free of him. _Dammit_! Why-? She ripped the weapon up harshly, splattering blood over her uniform, her mask and the bed sheets. Naruko averted her eyes and stumbled back to her wires. She was breathing faster than she should. It was over now, wasn't it? Why was she feeling so lightheaded?

The blood on her hands made it harder to grip the wires and she almost dropped her blade, the handle slick with blood as well, when she sheathed it. Her mouth was dry, not even the slight drizzle that had begun coming down on the village put enough moisture in the air for her to inhale. She stumbled out of the sky light, closed it with shaky hands and remained sitting there on the roof, kneeling and breathing heavily.

She pulled both masks down and threw her head back, opening her mouth to the water of the rain from above. The cool fluid felt good against her skin, washing off the blood from her gloved hands. She coughed, having inhaled a bit of water, but didn't move her head down.

"You did well," Yugao's voice told her just before she was drawn into a hug. "There is no need to cry."

Was she? She couldn't even tell. "I'm tired...," she whispered in a small voice.

"We're going home now," Kakashi's voice promised but she couldn't tell where he was. Home sounded good, she'd really want to talk top her friends now.

"Did I... do the right thing?" she asked, shakily standing up with the help of Yugao.

"You did what you were ordered to do, my dear," the purple haired woman told her, "You did good."

"But.. But was it the right thing?" she asked again.

Kakashi pulled her mask back up and wiped a tear from her cheek. "That is for you to decide but I would say you did, little one. Let us go. Home awaits."

* * *

No one in the class needed to be told that Naruko had finished her mission, they could see it in her eyes. Sakura squeezed her hand when the redhead passed her and Hinata outright hugged her, telling her that it was okay. She really hoped it was, because it really didn't feel like it. That day was the first time since she had began using a sword that another student managed to disarm her in a training session. She blinked numbly at the sword, it still appeared to be smeared in blood whenever she looked at it. Yugao sent her home that day, to rest and recover.

She didn't know if she could.

Later that day the Hokage showed up at her door, asking if he could come inside. She almost laughed. As the Hokage, he was legally enabled to enter any shinobi housing or facility at will. Still, she let him inside and returned to sit in her bed, polishing the sword so the blood would come off. It seemed to be burned into the metal, the lifeblood of the man she had killed.

"It is a clean weapon, Naruko," the old man told her, "Not even a speck of dust on it."

She swallowed. "I-... Uhm, I wanted to get the... the blood off and-"

"There is no blood, my dear," he assured her gently, "If the blood of all we have killed would stick to us and our weapons, I would be entirely red."

Naruko put the blade down. "Will it ever get easier?"

"No," the Hokage said, looking out of the window where he could see the Hokage mountain. "And I hope it never does. Once we lose respect for the lives we take, we have become something far more sinister than just shinobi." He knelt down besides her. "Only a monster feels no remorse for taking a life. But we do it for it is something we have to do. In time, you will learn to accept that fact and you will close your heart to the pain. You will always feel it but never acknowledge it."

"And... what if I stop feeling regret?" Naruko asked shakily.

"You are a kind soul, burning with the will of fire," he said, "You will always feel it, even if you forget about it. But, little Naruko, you will have to forgive yourself first."

They talked for a while and the old man left once her friends arrived. Hinata had worried the hem of her vest hard enough to undo the seams and the fact that her friend had been so anxious for her warmed Naruko's heart. She was sitting on the ceiling, attached to the wooden beams with her chakra and waved lamely at them.

"Hey," she greeted, her long red hair almost reaching the ground beneath as she hung there upside down. Sasuke snorted and walked up the next wall to sit at her side. Hinata choose to stand underneath her and began braiding her hair.

"It sucks, doesn't it?" Sasuke remarked. "Itachi said he never forgot about it."

"Mhm," Naruko agreed quietly. "He was some fucked up bastard but... still."

"You did what you had to do," Hinata said with as much confidence as she could muster. She herself had yet to undergo the mission that would inevitably lead to her first kill.

Naruko wiggled her head, causing the the braid to come loose and Hinata to pout up at her. She smiled. "I know," she said, "And I know that you can do it to." Hinata didn't seem all that convinced but nodded anyways. Naruko rolled her eyes and stood, her head no right in front of Hinata's face. "You are strong, Hime, so you can do it," she said confidently. "Tell me you can do it!"

"I-... I can do it...?" Hinata repeated unsteadily.

Naruko shook her head and pinched Hinata's cheek. "With confidence!"

After a squeak, Hinata blushed furiously and repeated loudly, "I-I can do it!"

"Louder!"

"I can do it!"

"EVEN LOUDER!" Naruko shouted, grasping Hinata's head with both hands.

"I-I CAN D-DO IT!" Hinata shrieked, face red enough to blend with Naruko's hair before she fainted.

Sasuke merely rolled his eyes at them, mumbling something along the lines of "Crazy Redhead..." under is breath.

* * *

The day after Hinata returned from her mission, she smiled weakly at Naruko and whispered, "I did it...".

The Uzumaki didn't leave her side for a week straight and they even slept in the same bed for the time. Since Hinata excelled at the academy, her father did not intervene, not that Naruko would have let him anyways, that damn stuck up prick. She, Tenten, Sakura and Ino threw a slumber party for the still shaken girl because she needed to unwind a bit.

It was mayhem.

As Kakashi decided to find out why there was so much squealing coming from Naruko's dorm room and peered in through the window, he found the girls all in various positions of... _weird_. Naruko was perched atop the cornice over the double window that led to the balcony, five kunai stacked atop one foot, all tip on handle, and five shuriken where spinning idly on her other foot on each toe.

Ino was sticking to the ceiling with _just her head_, her face already flushed with exertion, while Sakura was using her legs as a swing while simultaneously juggling what Kakashi assumed to be three bowls of hot ramen. Hinata was in the very center of the room, on her head were six glasses full of water, while she balanced on one leg to spin the arrow on a wheel that lay at her feet with the other.

Tenten was absolutely silent, balancing an inkwell on a senbon needle. That in itself was not that much of a feat but she did so with the needle in her mouth while upside down in Naruko's armchair. Should she loose control, the ink would spill all over her face. On both her feet she balanced-... What the hell? Was that _Pakkun_!? When did he summon him?

"A-Alright," Hinata called out, "Naruko, Add three kunai!"

"What!?" the reheard squawked, "How am I supposed to reach into my pouch!?"

"Don't-, uff!-Complain!" Ino grit out, reaching into the pouch at her side and haphazardly throwing three kunai in Naruko's general direction.

"Oh shit-!" the redhead exclaimed, quickly letting go off the wall she was sticking to in order to catch the weapons. It seemed that, for a moment, she had no idea where to place them, but in the end she balanced them on one of her knees. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't throw stuff at me, goddammit!"

Ino merely huffed in exertion.

"Ouch!" Sakura hissed as a splatter of hot broth his her bare arm. "Whose Idea was this!?"

"Hinata, spin the wheel!" Naruko crowed gleefully, deciding to ignore the question. Kakashi guessed that it had been her idea in the first place.

"Uhm," Hinata made as she watched the little arrow spin, "Ino can use her hands now!"

"Oh thank kami!" Ino cried in relief, now using both arms to hang onto the ceiling. "I swear, if that ruined my hair, I will cut off yours, Naruko!"

"I'd like to see you try!" Naruko taunted, "I am the one with the weapons!"

And so they continued. Kakashi was awed by whatever this was supposed to be. Hinata ended up underneath the couch at some point, only her leg sticking out while she balanced the water glasses on her big toe, while Naruko sat on the stove, which was going at full power, and had to quell the heat the cooling jutsu they had been taught in the academy. Tenten had to lie down on a bed of senbon needles while Ino and Sakura performed various acrobatics atop her stomach (which sounded far more exciting that it was. A certain white haired pervert would have had the time of his life taking notes).What the _actual fuck_ where they doing?

Thoroughly confused by the youth these days, Kakashi left, contemplating the meaning of life and his place in the world. He also decided that woman were just outright weird.

* * *

Graduation day was a holiday in Konoha so every family had the chance to see how much their children had grown over the eight years spent in the academy. Not everyone had made it, of course, almost fifty percent of the class had failed at some point, most of them in the third year, where many civilians failed to achieve a good enough chakra control. None of the clan born ever came close to failing, they had been taught chakra control and even basic jutsu well before they even entered the academy, even Naruko had possessed some prior knowledge before entering.

The written exam would have been really hard if not for the fact that a big part turned out to be about seals and their applications. Naruko filled three scrolls and even graduated in high honors because of that. Well, she wasn't an Uzumaki for nothing.

The practical exam was a breeze and it was almost bewildering just how easy it had been for them. Apparently, no one that couldn't be a ninja wouldn't even make it to the eighth year. The last exam was merely the final evaluation to decide who would be out together in a team with who.

The Hokage personally congratulated them once the ceremony of entrusting the students with a headband was over. He stood atop the balcony of the Hokage tower, surveying this year's graduation class. Naruko could feel how his eyes lingered on her and she grinned broadly up at him. She elbowed Sasuke and forced him to wave up to the old man as well.

"Genin of Konoha!" Hiruzen boomed over all of them. They immediately fell silent and stood to attention. "You have proven yourself worthy as ninja of Konoha, Worthy of carrying the Will of Fire in your hearts!" He raised both arms in front of him. "I cannot possibly describe how proud I am of you, my young ninja. You are strong, you are able and you carry our fire! Konoha trusts in you, your comrades trust in you, the people trust and you, _I _trust in you!"

A group of jonin flickered onto the field before new genin, one with silver hair and a face mask was noticeably late and Itachi, who stood right besides him, harshly elbowed him. Naruko rolled her eyes. Damn you, Kakashi. Always late! Naruko could see Hiruzen's brow twitch as his eyes lingered on Kakashi, so she bit her lip in an effort not to laugh. The Hokage cleared his throat.

"These fine jonin will become your teachers, mentors and leaders until you attain the rank of chunin!" he explained, "Each and every one of them has been chosen to guide a team that they have personally requested. Your teacher will now call out the team placements!" He gestured to Iruaka, who stood to the left of all the students with a clipboard in hand.

Iruka coughed once before beginning to read out loud.

Naruko was meanwhile busying herself with a stand of Hinata's hair, which had reached her hips by now. The elders would be having a seizure if not for the fact that they all, uh, left. At least, that was the official statement. Naruko was sure that Hiashi had gotten rid of them after they tried to forcefully brand Hinata with the Caged Bird seal. Neji, Hinata's cousin (or half brother, really), blew a gasket (subsequently pulling that mean thing of a fate stick out of his ass) and eviscerated the seal master. The funny thing about that was that now no one could apply the seal anymore. When Hiashi found out he locked himself and the elders in the council room. Only Hinata's father left the room an hour later.

"Naruko!"

"Hmm?" she slurred, half finished with braiding Hinata's hair, "Whazzup?"

"W-We need to head over to our sensei!" Hinata pleaded, bright red cheeks almost glowing.

"Oh?" Her head snapped up and she realized that everyone was staring at her, Sasuke from his place besides Itachi and Ino, snickering behind her hand from besides Shikamaru and Choji. Iruko coughed loudly and glared at her from the end of the line. She laughed off the embarrassment (which didn't work at all) and let herself be dragged away by Hinata. Evidently, Itachi was their new jonin teacher.

"Decided to join us, huh, you red menace?" Sasuke asked, smirking at her.

"Shut up, ducky," Naruko shot back, elbowing him hard in the ribs, hard enough to push him into a member of Kakashi's genin, who just happened to be Sakura. She squeaked in surprise and toppled over with Sasuke in town, almost falling onto Akamaru.

Sucking in her lower lip and trying not to laugh in order to appear innocent, Naruko peered in the other direction of the tangle of limbs. Iruka had once again stopped calling out the teams and she could now feel his gaze on her as if it were a solid thing. Sasuke eventually came to stand besides her again, a red hand print clearly visible in the very center of his face.

"Copped a feel, huh?" Naruko asked, trying hard not to laugh.

Sasuke glared at her. "I will beat you up _so _hard in the next spar!"

"Quiet now," Itachi ordered calmly, obviously not affected at all, though Naruko could have sworn his lips twitched.

Naruko took, ignoring Iruka's persistent glare, the time to see who the other teams were.

It seemed that the classic Ino-Shika-Cho was making an appearance, though Naruko sincerely doubted their effectiveness, given that they were now the third generation to carry out that particular formation. She hadn't known that Asuma had it in him to teach genin, much less without at least a dozen smokes in his mouth. Kakashi had the weird combinations of Sakura, Kiba and Shino, which didn't make any sense to Naruko at all. What were they supposed to be? A... support team? With the strongest front line jonin as their sensei? That didn't feel like a match to her. Then there was a civilian team, Ami, Yuki and Kaz, lead by a man Naruko may have seen before, but the name escaped her. She knew that they would, without doubt, be used for reinforcement. The ability they had displayed in barrier techniques and even seals was astounding for civilians that didn't really come into contact with shinobi matters on a regular basis. Iruka had commended Kaz's ability to create a barrier strong enough to withstand one of Naruko's own punches in a spar once. It broke her damn hand but it was just _so cool_! Kaz himself never said so, he wasn't the talkative type anyways. Besides, Ami and Yuki talked enough for a dozen of them... The poor boy...

Observing her own team, Naruko immediately came to the conclusion of _Assassination._ There was no way the three of them were use of another purpose, maybe search and rescue, if at all. Given her apparently overwhelming, ANBU fooling and Hokage startling ability to remain hidden if she really wanted to, she was an almost perfect assassin.

Almost.

_"You sneak like a landslide rolling into a village, little loud one,"_ Kakashi had (lazily) told her, given that he was the only person she couldn't ever sneak up on. She'd prove him wrong one of these days...

"That concludes the ceremony! Bow to your Hokage!" Iruka bellowed, louder than he had before, presumably to get her attention. She flashed him a thumbs up and bowed with the others.

* * *

With the official ceremony done, the teams dispersed. Itachi was leading his two students and one half asleep redhead up the Hokage mountain. Along the way, he congratulated his brother for graduating and Hinata was trying to tell Naruko that walking was very hard when she was half carrying her friend.

"Are you telling me I'm fat?" pouted the redhead.

And so Hinata turned red and continued dragging Naruko up the path.

At some point Itachi seemed to take pity on his new student and stopped. "Alright," he said, thinking of something exercise-like for them to do. He looked up the slope and mentally shrugged. Better than nothing. "I want to see how fast you have gotten. Race up to the Third's head. I'll meet you there."

Even as he flickered away, he could see Naruko jump into action, closely followed by Sasuke. Hinata stumbled once, because Naruko had literally jumped off her shoulder before following them. Naruko was a red blur, all that was visible was the trail of crackling red that followed her path as she infused herself with her lightning chakra. Sasuke stuck to the traditional bodyflicker, though he used a lightning version of it as well. Hinata was slower than them, of course, but nothing short of fast in comparison to your standard genin. With his Sharingan, Itachi could see that she periodically expelled chakra from most of her chakra points to propel herself forward. That in itself was quite impressive.

Naruko arrived first, almost launching herself off the mountain had Itachi no caught her at the neck of her shirt. She laughed sheepishly. "Uh, did I make it?"

Sasuke slammed down hard on the stone besides his brother, lightning flickering briefly around him. "Obviously, you overshot. Again."

Naruko pouted. "Shut up! I'm still faster than you, duck butt!"

Sasuke's left eye twitched. "What was that!?"

"Don't fight!" Hinata chided as she landed gently at Itachi's other side.

Hm, she didn't appear winded at all. Itachi mused that the training with her clan had granted her quite a bit of stamina. Training these three would be a real challenge. He hoped that he could help them reach their full potential.

Right after he stopped Naruko and Sasuke from fighting.

Oh boy, why did he want to do this again?

* * *

**A/N: This concludes what I would have called the Academy arc. It was just pointless hilarity though...**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I... kinda went wild in this chapter. I dunno what I did to Naruko :D**

**I'm a terrible person, busy but terrible... And I bet you like it.**

**:3**

* * *

Naruko was in the Hokage's office as soon as Itachi explained their training to them. If she had actually listened or not was another matter entirely. The old man knew exactly what she wanted though, so it was no surprise that she had been there almost faster than him. He had barely sat down when the window was thrown open and the young woman barged inside, straight into the armchair she had calmed years ago.

He chuckled. "So nice of you to stop by, Naruko. But you do know that there is a door, right?"

"Yeah, but then I would have to use it," Naruko said dismissively. "So, my mission to Uzu?"

"Ah yes, I did say something like that, didn't I?" the man laughed. "Yes, you will go on this mission, but not today, I fear."

Naruko immediately pouted as hard as she could.

"But," Hiruzen added quickly, "you are scheduled to leave next week so you can acclimate to being a four man cell by the time."

She pouted still and would have protested if not for Yugao who appeared from her hiding spot in the ceiling. "Now, now, Naru, no need to hurry now. You already waited so long, what is another week?"

"It's a week too long!" Naruko whined, burying her head in Yugao's stomach from her sitting position.

The door behind them opened, revealing Kakashi with his nose buried in one of his books. He strode in without a word and softly bumped his book on Naruko's head. She whined again as he ruffled her hair. "Now now," he chided, "No hurrying now. It won't do you any good."

"Kakashi," the Hokage acknowledged, "How was your team meeting?"

"Oh, I have yet to meet them, Lord Hokage."

Hiruzen sighed. "Why am I not surprised...?" He glared mildly at the man. "Go and meet them or I'll have Yugao drag you."

The man coughed, ignoring the baleful glare he got from the purple haired woman. "Oh, uhm, is it that late already?" He ruffled Naruko's hair yet again. "I'll, uh, be on my way!" He vanished in a bodyflicker before Yugao could clobber him.

* * *

At some point during the academy, Naruko became a pervert. Or just very touchy-feely. Sakura couldn't really decide. Anyhow, the redhead had no shame whatsoever, the word _prude _did not exist in her own little world. Neither did bustiers for that matter. It had been the greatest event in the academy history when Naruko got a new training top, one that was lightly armored but also basically a second skin, and pulled off her crimson jacket mid training session.

Within twenty three seconds the entirety of the male attendants knew that she was not wearing a bra.

Naruko didn't care at all. Said they were freaking uncomfortable and impractical. Iruka forced her to wear her jacket after that.

That had been just one of the many things that proved just how shameless the Uzumaki was and Sakura was loath to remember the day Naruko asked every man she met if he had an erection. The entire village blamed that one on Anko. The most recent one, however, was what Sakura was currently witnessing. Or rather, participating in. Naruko had tricked her and the rest of the girls (Ino, Hinata and Tenten) into playing cards with her. Said their pride as kunoichi was on the line. She should have refused.

Sakura found herself entirely without any bottoms at a table with the others, glowering at the fully dressed Naruko. "You are cheating," she growled, doing her best not to appear as ashamed as she felt.

"She doesn't have any sleeves," Ino countered, though the irritation in the topless girl's voice let on that she suspected Naruko of cheating just as much.

"Why did I agree to this?" Tenten asked, displaying her rather bad hand. Not even a pair. Now she would lose her bra as well.

"You put your pride on the line!" Naruko laughed, "Right, Hinata?"

Sakura wanted to laugh, but that would have been too cruel. Hinata was entirely naked, sitting right next to Naruko and did everything within her power to keep the slither of modesty that her hands and cards could offer.

"R-Right," Hinata agreed meekly, blushing as Naruko's eyes landed on her.

Sakura sighed as Naruko dealt the next round. Picking up her cards, Sakura almost yelped in joy. Three aces right off the bat! Naruko would pay this time! The round went on and Ino admitted defeat, surrendering her skirt in the process. Who knew the Yamanaka wore flower themed panties?

Tenten slammed her cards onto the table with a triumphant outcry. "Hah! Three sevens!" If Sakura hadn't forgotten all of these bizarre rules, Tenten was allowed to keep her pants on. Hinata looked ready to cry when she put a five and a four on the table.

"Geez, Hime," Naruko remarked as she turned around the final card, a ten. "You got no luck at all."

Hinata nodded sadly. "It seems that way." She fidgeted. "So, uhm, I... don't have anything to take off anymore?"

Naruko's grin was devious. "Oh, I have an idea."

There was an odd twinkle in her eyes. Sakura strained her ears to hear what Naruko was whispering in Hinata's ear but couldn't understand anything. Whatever it was, Hinata made a noise that could either have been a panicked yelp or an excited laugh. The Hyuuga briefly looked at the other girls before nodding.

Sakura chocked on her own spit when Naruko tackled the buck naked girl and-

"_Ahn~_!" Hinata moaned out loud when Naruko's deft fingers pocked and prodded all over her chest. From besides her, Ino chocked on the very air for a second while Tenten's jaw hit the table. Sakura averted her eyes. What the actual freaking hell was she doing!?

Eventually Hinata squeaked as Naruko _kissed _her right breast and passed out.

Naruko took her place and laid her cards down as if she hadn't just molested a girl into unconsciousness. Sakura and Ino exchanged a glance. Was Naruko actually... gay? It wouldn't be that much of a shock but not what they had expected either.

"Sakura?" Naruko called sweetly, "Your cards."

"Uuh... yes," she managed, putting her three aces down onto the table. "Is... Hinata okay?" she decided to ask.

Naruko giggled. "She's fine. Worry about yourself."

Suddenly, Sakura felt as if much more than just her pride was at stake. Suddenly she feared for her innocence.

But apparently there was little to worry about. The last card Naruko flipped around wiped the smug grin clean of her face. A fourth ace. The redhead pouted at her. "You won this one," she huffed, already pulling at the zipper of her crimson jacket. She threw it over Hinata, who curled into a happy ball underneath it.

Of course there was no bra. Sakura didn't know why she had even expected one. And unlike the others, Naruko didn't try to hide her bare skin at all. She was either really proud, simply didn't care, or was just that much of a pervert.

Two rounds later, Tenten ran out of clothes. Two rounds later the game ended when Tenten refused to be felt up as well. There was a lot of cute pouting and moping on Naruko's part, but in the end Sakura was glad that she had managed to keep at least one article of clothing on.

Even if it were her socks.

* * *

A week was far too long, Sasuke had to admit that. And being stuck with doing menial tasks around the village sucked ass, as Naruko pointed out so eloquently. Delivering messages and guarding the wall or gate was just too damn boring while they awaited their deployment to Uzushio. Naruko could barely stop talking about it and even Hinata seemed to tire of it on the fifth day.

The mission on the sixth day was one loathed all throughout the Land of Fire: Capturing Tora.

Naruko, Sasuke and Kaz were the only three genin of their year to have escaped that mission through sheer luck of the draw. Said luck didn't last forever though, so Team 6 was currently hunting for the little pest. Sasuke swore that the beast was using chakra to move as fast as it did at times, but his Sharingan could never see any. Hinata directed them as best as she could but the cat would at times mingle with other strays and Hinata's Byakugan was not very accurate the greater the distance to her target was. Naruko, however, seemed entirely unconcerned.

"She's right in front of us!" Hinata suddenly exclaimed.

Sasuke nodded at Naruko and both dashed off. He would approach from the front as Naruko from the back. The alley they were in would allow no escape.

Tora hissed loudly at him, baring dangerously glinting teeth. He gulped, those things would leave a mark... Why was he the one to pick the beast up again? Right, because Itachi said so. Damn him!

But just as he was about to grab for the cat, Naruko suddenly pounced.

And _purred_.

"Nyaaa!~," Naruko meowed loudly, dropping on all fours behind the startled cat.

Sasuke had no words for what happened. He would have questioned if this was some sort of joke, but when Naruko meowed loudly once more, adding a purr for good measure, and Tora actually responded in kind without any sign of hostility, Sasuke was certain that the world had just gone mad.

Team 6 watched in awe as the demon cat played with Naruko in the middle of the back alley as if it were a second nature to her. No one questioned what was going on, though Hinata was watching with rapt attention, the slightest of blushes dusting her cheeks.

* * *

Tenten had almost hurled a kunai at the redhead when she suddenly popped up in front of her, red lightning buzzing briefly in the air. The distinct smell of ozone invaded her nose and she gave in to the urge to roll her eyes.

"Naruko!" she chided, "Don't just jump into our training like that!" The corners of her lips twitched upwards though, for Neji had been sent to eat dirt as Naruko passed him at what had to be very close to the speed of sound. The Hyuuga in question, who just happened to be Hinata's cousin, frowned petulantly at the redhead but kept quiet. Naruko ignored the Byakugan fueled glare with practiced ease.

"Young Naruko!" Gai bellowed from where he had observed the spar. He was sitting on Lee's back as the boy was relentlessly doing push-ups. "Have you come to fan the flames of your youth with us!"

Obviously that wasn't a question, for Gai was already throwing a jumpsuit at her. Naruko caught it with a theatrical jump and a thumbs-up that put Lee's usual pose to shame. With a midair cartwheel she landed in a crouch and immediately began to undo her vest and tight fitting undershirt.

"Naruko!" Tenten exclaimed, "Don't you dare undress!" Strip poker was one thing, but this!?

The vest already hit the ground. "Why?" the redhead asked, halting just shy of the button over the center of her chest, which was straining visibly. "I'm too big to wear the jumpsuit otherwise!" she complained.

"You won't!" Tenten insisted before rounding to Neji, whose head snapped in the opposite direction immediately. "And if you have your Byakugan active, I swear I will turn your testicles into a pincushion! And you!" she roared, now aiming at Lee and their sensei, "Why do you even let her do that!? Have you no shame!?"

Gai did look positively ashamed, but Lee didn't seem to get the point. "But Tenten!" he shouted mid push-ups, "We were fanning Naruko's flames of youth!"

"You made her undress!" Tenten shot back, accompanied by a kunai that sailed right though Lee's arms and landed undernetah his chest, who immediately shut up. Naruko hand't moved a muscle during Tenten's scolding, but the button on her training shirt could not take the strain. It popped. And Naruko's chest followed.

As Neji made a chocking noise, Lee failed his push-up and ate dirt. Naruko just smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head, apparently uncaring for her exposed chest. "Oops!" she laughed.

"Cover yourself!" Tenten almost howled. How could the girl be so shameless!? Then she turned to Neji, a dozen kunai appearing in both her hands. "And you, you closet pervert... It's time for target practice!"

The blood immediately drained from the Hyuuga's face and he paled considerably. He had made a huge mistake. Tenten's aim was deadly. Deadly and painful.

* * *

Izumo and Kotetsu chanced another glance out of the gatehouse only to immediately retreat inside of it again. The danger hadn't passed yet, the red menace was still waiting. They had no idea why the girl was already there, it was but a few minutes past six, but she seemed to be far from amused that whoever she waited for wasn't there yet. She was glaring every passing villager into submission and, on occasion, the two innocent gate guards.

"She's scary!" Izumo hissed under his breath.

"The eyes of the shinigami!" Kotetsu amended fearfully. "Maybe she's here to end us!?"

"Don't be ridiculous," his partner snorted. "She may be scary but she has yet do do anything stupid.

Kotetsu dared to peek out of the gate house but immediately jumped back inside with a high pitched scream. A mop of red hair was shoved though the window and scowled at them. "Where are they?" she growled lowly.

Kotetsu whimpered incoherently and Izumo couldn't do anything aside from opening and closing his mouth without any words escaping him. Bot guards were just about to say their last goodbyes when someone called out to the girl.

"Naru! There you are!"

The mop of red pulled back and left two absolutely terrified chunin to slump on the floor in relief.

Izumo looked at Kotetsu and said, "She's worse than her mother..."

His friend agreed. "Way worse," he added.

They both swore to themselves never to anger the Uzumaki, lest they'd forfeit both their souls and lives.

Naruko, unaware of the oath both men had made, bounced over to where Hinata was approaching her, closely followed by Sasuke and their sensei. "Morning, hime! What took you so long?"

Hinata sighed loudly. "Naru, we were supposed to meet up around eight. I just saw you were here already so I asked sensei if he minded going earlier."

The redhead laughed sheepishly. "Oh, uh, yeah. I guess." She recovered quickly enough and gave Itachi her best puppy eyes. "Can we go now!?"

The man laughed softly. "My, my, how eager. But I am sorry, we cannot." Naruko's face fell away into an angry pout. "This is an important mission, therefore we are accompanied by Kakashi's Team."

Naruko fell to her knees. "But-! He will take _ages _to get here!" she moaned.

"That's why I told him to meet us here at about four in the morning."

"Why didn't you tell me!?" Naruko huffed.

Sasuke sighed, stifling a yawn. "We did. You just didn't listen but made knots into Hinata's hair."

Naruko rolled her eyes. "I did not!" Then she leaned over to Hinata. "Right?" she whispered.

"Ah, well," the Hyuuga stammered, trying to push the messy lock of hair out of everyone's field of vision. "No?"

"See?" Naruko exclaimed proudly. "I did listen!"

"That so? Then what did we tell you?" Sasuke challenged.

"Uhm... Things?" was the redhead's intelligent answer. Sasuke merely snorted.

And so they had to wait for Kakashi's team to show up. Of course, the team itself showed up before the man himself but it wasn't like they had expected anything else. Shino nodded coolly in her direction. Apparently he was still upset that she had claimed a few of his bugs as her own. They now lived comfortably on one of her house plants inside her apartment. She just smiled sheepishly at him. Kiba, who had been standing right next to Shino, apparently thought that the smile was for him and immediately flexed his muscles in his sleeveless grey jacket. Naruko cringed as he winked at her. Ugh...

"Morning Naruko," Sakura greeted her, "How long have you guys been here?"

She shrugged. "Not long." Sasuke snorted loudly. Naruko just glared at him.

"We are merely waiting for your sensei to arrive," Hinata informed her.

"Ugh," was all the response it elicited from Sakura.

Kiba growled in annoyance, as did Akamaru. "That is _soooo_ annoying! Why did we get the lazy sensei!?"

Naruko huffed in agreement. Kakashi was usually not that late when it concerned her. Only when- Oh! She grinned deviously, giggling to herself.

"What?" Sasuke asked, obviously not pleased that she hadn't shared whatever she knew.

"He's with his girlfriend!" Naruko stage whispered to him.

Kiba, who had chosen that moment to yawn widely, chocked on the very air and coughed rather violently. Sakura rolled her eyes and slapped the Inuzuka's back.

"Kakashi has no girlfriend," Itachi observed, though even his eyebrows were raised a bit.

"Oh, but he has!" Naruko insisted. "That's why he's late! And if I know her, she will drag hiss sorry but here soon!"

Sakura snorted. "As if anyone would want that pervert."

Naruko scowled at her. "He isn't... that bad," she defended lamely.

Hinata felt like she needed to agree with Naruko. "Kakashi is merely... uhm, attracted to... specific literature...?"

"That means he's a pervert," Sakura deadpanned.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted in agreement.

Itachi smiled at them as they continued to bicker about the degree of perverseness of the Icha-Icha books. He would have added his two cents when he felt Kakashi's chakra approach them rapidly, far faster than the lazy jonin was usually traveling. But Kakashi's signature wasn't alone.

Naruko turned around just in time to exclaim, "Told you so!"

Kakashi slammed into the ground to the Uzumaki's feet face first, where he remained motionless for several seconds. Behind him, brushing a bit of dust off her shoulders, was Yugao, her hair messy and the vest unbuttoned. Itachi's eyes widened considerably as Kiba's jaw dropped.

"Holy shit!" he exclaimed, Akamaru barking fervently at his feet, "You smell like sex!"

"No way," Sakura breathed. "You can't be serious."

"Told you so," Naruko huffed and Hinata giggled a little.

Yugao didn't exactly blush, but her cheeks were definitely more rosy than usual. She briefly hugged Naruko, ruffling her hair as she let go. "Be careful," she told her, "And come back to me."

"Of course!" Naruko laughed, "And I'll even bring your boyfriend back!"

Yugao did blush this time, though it passed quickly enough. "I'd appreciate it," the woman relented, casting a glance at the still grounded Kakashi. "But if he's lazy again, you know what to do."

Naruko laughed and hugged her big sister again before she left. Once Yugao was out of sight, Kakashi immediately shot to is feet as if he hadn't been slammed into the ground moments before. "Is she gone?" he asked the lot of them.

Itachi and Sasuke snorted in unison. Sakura groaned and Naruko and Kiba laughed loudly. Hinata managed to stifle her giggle just as Shino kept his reaction concealed underneath his collar, if he even had one.

"She is, you lazy bum!" Naruko informed him, slapping his arm. "What did you do? Sleep in? Poked her with your cold feet?"

"My feet aren't cold," Kakashi defended, reaching into his vest. He frowned before he pulled his hand back out empty. "Okay, maybe they are." With a sigh, he faced the gate. "Are we ready to go?"

"Just checking out and good to go," Itachi informed him.

The two teams approached the gate house, but Naruko cut ahead. "We're fine! Let's go already!"

Itachi and Kakashi exchanged a look. "Are we?" they asked in unison.

Naruko turned to the gate house and glared inside. "Are we?" she hissed harshly.

Izumo and Kotetsu yelped in unison before the former stammered, "Y-Yes! The papers are already done!"

"How convenient," Kakashi commented, "That usually takes half an hour."

Naruko just smiled innocently as they left the village.

"Crazy redheads," Sasuke mumbled under his breath, but followed them all the same.

* * *

They traveled more or less quietly for a while (Naruko kept bugging Hinata about the rather baggy jacket she wore) until the redhead suddenly remembered something.

"Oi! Kakashi!" she shouted, letting go of Hinata's zipper, "You promised to give me all the info on the previous missions to Uzu!"

The man sighed and reached into his vest. A rather thick scroll was freed from within and he unrolled it theatrically before clearing his throat. "Ahem! Now let's see... Ah! So, the first recorded mission in regards to Uzushiho was launched during the war. Konoha had gleamed of Iwa's and Kumo's troop movements that they were heading for Uzushio. It isn't written here, but we got that information far too late, so when the troops arrived, it was already over."

Itachi nodded. "There was a group of Uchiha with the dispatch. They said it was the strangest thing they had ever seen."

"Upon arrival," Kakashi continued, "all that was found was the remains of what had to be a week long siege. Uzushio spans most of the island it is built upon and almost every free inch of it was littered with corpses and scorch marks of powerful explosives. Our shinobi tried to entered the village, because the walls had not fallen by the looks of it, but the gate wouldn't open and no one responded to their calls. They couldn't scale the walls because it repelled them and no one could jump high enough. That was the first mission. They retreated after that. Your mother was confined to the village, given that she was the jinchuriki at the time and the aftereffects of the war left the village raw."

Naruko frowned but said nothing. She wondered what kind of seal could repel chakra so easily? "And the second?" she asked, "What did they find out?"

"The second mission happened just a few months shy of your birth," Kakashi read, squinting at what he deemed to be terrible hand writing. "For that reason your mother didn't come. However, the Fourth Hokage made the trip and examined the walls and gate."

"Really!?" Naruko shouted excitedly.

Kakashi chuckled. "Really. He found that there was a powerful seal on the gate that spanned all around the village, even above it. The shinobi that could reach over the walls hit what they described as a dome of solid chakra that wouldn't let them see through and neither would it let them pass. The Fourth spent a lot of time studying the seal and divined it to be a powerful containment seal. It was beyond anything he had ever seen so he copied it to bring it to your mother."

"Did Lady Kushina figure it out?" Sakura decided to ask, given that Naruko was bouncing around excitedly.

Kakashi shook his head. "Sadly she didn't. She had no time for Naruko was just shy of being born when the Fourth returned on the eighth of October."

"So mum died before she could even start," Naruko said sullenly.

"Sadly," Kakashi agreed, ruffling Naruko's hair affectionately. "That was, however, not the last mission we had to Uzu. Over the years we sent over five dozen of teams to observe the situation but none of them ever reported anything out of the ordinary. However, as the Fourth already mentions in his notes, he supposes that an Uzumaki could enter. The containment seal is chakra and blood bound after all."

"So Naruko could open it?" Hinata asked, gently patting Naruko's head just like Kakashi had done.

The redhead smiled at her and returned the gesture with a vengeance. Hinata squealed as her hair were absolutely and ruthlessly brought out of shape. Naruko smiled at Kakashi. "I'm sure I can," she said with a big smile, "It's time to see my Clan!"

* * *

On the road east Naruko had a lot of time to study a copy of the seal that the Fourth Hokage had made. It was about the quietest Kakashi's Team had ever seen her be for a prolonged period of time. Her easygoing features scrunched up more and more into a frown as time went on and after half a day of traveling, she eventually outright scowled at the depiction. Sasuke kept edging away from her every time she huffed in frustration. Naruko tended to elbow him when she was annoyed.

"I don't get it!" she cried eventually, "That seal is just so... so... Ugh!"

"Now, now," Kakashi tried to appease, "This seal was probably done by the Uzukage and, if the records are anything to go by, no one is better with seals than her."

"But that's just it!" Naruko grumbled, "The seal _sucks_!"

Just about everyone halted at that. Kiba, who was taking point, was the only one to keep walking.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked, "I mean... it _was _probably made by the Uzukage."

"I am!" Naruko insisted. "That thing is terribly unstable! Like, some idiot put '_Deviation_' where they should be '_Retribution_'!"

No one pretended to understand how that was a problem.

"So, uhm, what exactly do you think it does?" Hinata asked, deactivating her Byakugan to give her eyes a rest.

Naruko held the paper at arms length and turned at a few times, observing it from all kinds of angles. "Well... Like it's in the report, it's a containment seal, but with the way it sucks, it barely does more than a storage seal aside from being damn near unbreakable. Or maybe it's just a hole in space-time now."

"I see," Shino spoke up, "That is problematic. Why? Because the conditions inside a storage seal vary greatly from a Containment seal."

"Exactly!" Naruko cried out, pointing a finger at the Aburame. "You keep that up and I may just give you back your bugs!"

Sasuke glanced around. Apparently they all understood what the crucial difference was. He, however, had not studied seals to a great extent. He caught Naruko's eye, who gave him an exasperated look. He scowled at her when she rolled her eyes. "Hn," he huffed, his cheeks heating as he averted his eyes.

Itachi wondered if his brother would be as embarrassed with just about anyone. My, was he crushing on Naruko? He glanced at Kakashi, who was reading his book. Hopefully the lazy jonin didn't get wind of it or Sasuke would have to fear for his integrity.

"A containment seal," Naruko began to explain, "is a seal designed to contain human or organic matter and preserve it inside. Time is a fixed value in them so you know how long you can leave something inside. The seal from Uzu was designed to let time flow at the normal speed while sealing off the entire village to safety. But because someone messed it up, the time value vanished and it's probably not easy to deactivate. That makes it almost like a storage seal, which has no time value. Inside a storage scroll there is virtually nothing but what you sealed inside. Time may move slower or even faster inside that separate dimension, so it's real stupid to seal food or even a human inside. They could die in an instant or slowly choke on the lack of air."

"You mean suffocate," Sakura corrected absently.

Naruko pouted at her before throwing herself at Hinata's neck dramatically. "Hime! She's making fun of my vocabulary again!"

"I am not!" Sakura shot back while Hinata gently patted Naruko's head and soothingly whispered, _"There, there."_.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Anyways, let's move on. We should reach the shore in three days time."

* * *

They decided to camp at night, better to be fully rested for whatever they'd find on the way. Konoha had information on a lot of activity in the Land of Waves after all, none of it remarkably positive. As a matter of fact, Team 2, the team Kaz was on, had their own mission to carry out there. A protection detail probably. Naruko didn't listen when Ami ranted on about their drunk client. She did, however, listen as Kaz threatened to bash the man's teeth in.

There were only two tents for all of them, one per team, which in itself and under normal circumstances wouldn't have been a problem. But nothing was ever normal when Naruko was involved so it was decided to simply split up between man and woman. That had initially been Kakashi's idea, if only to keep grabby boys from Naruko's innocence.

And while Naruko's innocence for the night had been secured, the rest of the girls were not that fortunate. The Uzumaki moved a lot in her sleep and while she didn't outright roll over all of them, she grasped and clung to everything that got too close. And Hinata happened to be one of those things.

Sakura watched in mild amusement as Hinata's sleeping bag was invaded by the softly snoring redhead. Hinata squeaked quietly and her eyes opened wide once Naruko decided to use her as a pillow. Even in the dim light that the full moon cast onto their tent Sakura could make out the luminescent blush on Hinata's face. Because she thought Hinata would faint pretty soon anyways, Sakura decided to better get some sleep and turned around onto her side and closed her eyes.

Half an hour later she was roused from her light sleep as a pair of hands snaked around her torso, resting just underneath her breasts. She held her breath as Naruko's hot breath tickled her neck.

"Dammit Naruko," she hissed, trying to squirm out of the redheads grasp. "Wasn't Hinata enough?"

Sakura squawked when her right breast was pinched rather hard. "Shtop... moving," Naruko slurred, "Shleep..."

Silently fuming and squirming through the night, Sakura only ever manged to get some shut eye once Naruko returned to abuse Hinata as her body warmer. Until the redheaded menace returned a few hours later.

* * *

Naruko didn't understand why Sakura kept glowering at her all day. She had slept great! Nice and snugly, even though they had only camped. Hinata seemed rested as well so maybe Sakura wasn't that much of a happy camper. Sasuke and the boys seemed fine, though Kiba kept complaining about the bugs he still found in his boots. Shino merely sniffed in response.

They were due to reach the coast by noon, so Naruko decided that bugging Sasuke about it was the perfect past time. "Oi! Sasuke!"

The Uchiha stiffened mid step and shot her a wary glance over his shoulder as she hopped up to him. "What?"

She grinned. "You think you can convince your brother to go faster?"

"No," Sasuke deadpanned.

Leaving her lower lip to tremble, Naruko stepped in Sasuke's way, giving him her best puppy dog eyes. "Pleeeeease?"

He almost faltered! His eyebrows both twitched upwards but he held fast. "No."

Well, that failed. Naruko moved on to her secret weapon. "Oh, please!" she pleaded, dramatically throwing herself at Sasuke's neck.

Naruko, as an established kunoichi, was able to utilize her body as a weapon. A sexy one at that. She hadn't exactly thought to ever use it on an enemy but it was fun to mess with her friends. She usually wore at least the cloth mask in the field but while traveling like that she saw no need for it. The title Sasuke had given her as "Red Menace" was rather fitting, given that basically all of her clothing she wore was at least some shade of red. Aside from her tight fitting black spats her outfit was just a shade deeper than her own hair.

As Naruko hung onto is neck, Sasuke's eyes widened just a fraction.

The Uchiha entirely blamed Anko for Naruko's attire. Especially for the long sleeved, midriff free and rather tight training top. Of course it bore the Uzumaki emblem all over the length of her back. Over that she wore a reddish brown chunin vest with scrolls sticking out at odd angles from just about every pouch. If he remembered correctly, there was a trench coat in one of these scrolls, one in (of course) crimson that Anko had bought with her. From the same shopping spree originated the top she wore and a bunch of lacy underwear Sasuke was loath to admit he knew existed.

All in all, with her long braided hair slung around her neck, fluttering her long eyelashes at him, Sasuke was very close to cave in, give her whatever she wanted and maybe even swear his never ending loyalty to her.

"Naru, stop bothering Sasuke." Kakashi, who had watched the whole display with a mixture of amusement and serious visions of Sasuke's violent death, pulled the redhead off her teammate. She pouted excessively at him but to no avail. Kakashi was one of the few who could have claimed to be resistant to Naruko.

On the outside, that is.

On the inside he was cooing at her, wishing nothing more than to muss her hair and pinch her cheek. But, as an elite jonin, he restrained himself and chided her lightly. Once Naruko ambled over to Hinata (probably trying to get that jacket of the girl) Kakashi turned to Sasuke.

"If you ever even think about touching her, it will be the last thing you ever thought about," Kakashi said coolly. "Is that understood?"

Sasuke took a step back. And then two more for good measure. "I, uh... Hn." Unintelligent but effective. Classic Uchiha.

"Good," Kakashi acknowledged with a curt nod before continuing down the road.

Kiba caught up to him, having brought up the rear of the group. "Man, what did you do to get Naruko to throw herself at you?" he asked, staring almost dreamily at the Uzumaki.

"If you value your life," Sasuke began," You don't want to know. Trust me."

* * *

Eventually Hinata caved in and took off her jacket. Kiba almost tripped over a root. The baggy jacket had obviously hidden much of the Hyuuga's developed body which the rather tight armored shirt she wore underneath didn't hide at all. As there was an Uzumaki swirl on it, it had obviously been a present. If not from Naruko, Sasuke would eat the Uzumaki's braid.

Sasuke blinked. Eat her braid? The hell? Where did that come from?

Anyhow, the scent of ocean got more and more pronounced the further they went. Neither he nor Naruko had ever been to he ocean. Sakura once mentioned having a vacation of sorts to the coat up north but she barely remembered it. Hinata had been the most recent one to visit the ocean, given that her graduation mission had taken place at the southern coastline. Then again, Sasuke was well aware of the fact that the Hyuuga didn't remember the place too fondly.

He flinched back on instinct just as Naruko's long hair came undone and almost slapped him right in the face. It was really getting long. If not for the fact that is was slightly untamed and wavy, it would probably be dragged across the ground behind the girl.

"Watch it," he hissed at her after a second. He really had to stop staring at her so much. It was getting weird.

She blew him a raspberry. "You watch it, duckbutt."

He scowled at her but didn't rise to the taunt. An Uchiha was above such things. Besides... his hair didn't look like a duckbutt. Not anymore... It was flat now. Shorter too. No duckbutt.

The trees closer to the coast were a lot smaller than in the center of the Land of Fire. A lot brighter too. The road was, much to Sasuke's surprise, was paved with cobblestone around the small villages and hamlets that lined the coast. They were supposed to stay in an inn at one of those before taking a boat to the Land of Waves and from there they'd immediately leave for Uzushio by simply walking over the water.

Why not do that in the first place? Well, there was no need to needlessly spend chakra on the way. Previous missions had encountered teams from Iwagakure on the Whirlpool Island and aside from Naruko and the Jonin, the other genin couldn't exactly shrug off a few hundred kilometers of water walking.

"We're here," his brother informed them just as they broke out of the forest.

The sun momentarily blinded him. He shielded his eyes and stared at the endlessly stretching ocean before them. The sun reflected in the bright blue surface, the waves glittering like diamonds. Kiba whistled loudly behind him and he could see Sakura's eyes brighten considerably.

Down the path to the sea was a small village nestled into the slope. It wasn't big, had a little harbor and was surrounded by fields filled with fruit, but that seemed to be their stay for the night.

Naruko was a lot less quiet in appreciating the sight of the ocean. She whooped loudly and immediately threw herself at Itachi, who happened to be closest to her. Sasuke guessed that Hinata had known that would happen. "Can we go swim?" she pleaded, "Pleeeeease!?"

Sasuke watched in a mixture of amusement and apprehension how his brothers aloof features gave way and revealed a warm small. Itachi glanced at Kakashi, who merely shrugged in response. "Alright," he said, "Go down to the coast and have some fun. We will take care of our lodgings."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Naruko grabbed Hinata and Sakura by the hand and dragged them down the path. Kiba, Shino and him merely shrugged at each other and followed at a more sedated pace.

"And make sure you at least look like civilians!" Kakashi called after them. When Sasuke turned around, the two jonin were already gone.

* * *

Naruko loved the Ocean! She hadn't even been in it yet, but she loved it! The beach was not really a beach like she had expected. There was no sand, just a lot of gravel, but that wouldn't stop her.

"Hold on!" Sakura complained, "Would you- Agh! Stop! At least let us put on some swimwear!"

Naruko stopped abruptly, skidding to a halt just short of the water. "But why?" she asked. "We could just jump in like that! We know jutsu to dry ourselves!"

"And then there's salt everywhere," Sakura huffed. "And I won't have that." She picked a scroll out of her vest and scanned the label.

Naruko grinned. It was a storage scroll she had made for her. You could put multiple things inside and didn't have to unseal them all to get one specific item. These scrolls were a huge hit and Naruko was paid interest for every scroll that was sold in Konoha, now that she was officially a ninja. Sakura made a handsign and promptly put her whole arm inside the scroll, rummaging around. When she pulled back, a neatly folded stack of towels and a set of pink swimwear emerged firmly clasped in her hand.

"Pink, of course," Naruko laughed to herself, earning a scathing look from Sakura.

"If your outfit isn't at least red, I'll eat a towel," Sakura shot back.

"No fighting now," Hinata said, going through her own scrolls. Out of one of them, she pulled a towel and a pure white swimsuit, a one piece even.

Naruko eyed the piece of clothing. "Hey hime," she said, "Your butt will look _sooo_ good in that."

Hinata squeaked and turned a few new shades of red. It was just too much fun to tease her these days! Going through a scroll of her own, Naruko retrieved her own swimsuit. It was, of course, red in color. As was the towel that came with it.

"Told you," Sakura huffed as she went though a set of handseal. In a small poof of smoke her uniform had been replaced with her swimsuit, a rather modest model. Naruko wanted to pout at her. Sakura had a great butt too, but these bottoms did nothing to show it!

"Yeah yeah," Naruko sighed dismissively. She would need to take Sakura shopping. These old lady pants were a no go! Not in her presence! Doin the jutsu herself, Naruko felt the rush of air and the sun on her skin as she was left standing in her own swimwear.

"W-What _is _that!?" Sakura stammered as Naruko went through a few stretches.

"What?" she asked, tilting her head in confusion. "That's my bikini."

"I- Yes!" Sakura stammered on, "But what's with the bottoms!?"

Naruko pulled at the tiny piece of clothing that's only purpose was to cover her crotch. Her butt was not part of the covered are at all. "You like them?" she asked cheekily. "I bet hime does."

Hinata's predictable squeak turned into a coughing fit as she performed the jutsu on herself. "I- uh, l-like them!" she shouted but wouldn't lower her eyes enough to look.

Naruko was distracted from eyeing the delicious swimsuit Hinata wore by the arrival of the guys, Kiba was already throwing off his jacket, making a show of it. She just rolled her eyes. There were hair growing around his nipples. _Only_ the nipples. As toned as he was, he could at least shave them. Or his armpits for that matter. While she could live with that, the fact that he wore a speedo was not okay at all. Ugh!

Sasuke on the other hand was hairless. He was very clean after all. Almost like some grumpy cat. And he had the dignity to wear swimming trunks. His abs were pretty nice as well. Not as nice as her own, mind you, but nice enough.

Shino was still fully clothed. That was no surprise, given that swimming was not an activity the Aburame Clan as a whole would do as a hobby. If they didn't supply their whole hive with chakra while submerged, they would just... uh, what had Sakura called it? Ah yes, suffocate.

She grinned smugly at Sakura. Hah! She remembered the word!

"What?" the girl asked, covering her chest with her arm.

Letting her eyes rest on her chest, Naruko said, "Nothing. Nothing at all."

Sakura's eyes widened. "You little-!"

Naruko laughed as she evaded a mean right hook. "You're just jealous that Hinata outdoes us all!"

As Hinata tried in vain to cover her massive knockers (like seriously, how did she grow that fast?) and Sakura attempted to maim her, Sasuke loudly cleared his throat.

"Alright," he began, "We have about an hour here. Sensei should return by then and we'll turn in for the night."

"You don't say," Naruko said, rolling her eyes, "And who made you the leader anyways? It should obviously be me!"

"Hey!" Kiba added, "I'm the alpha here! I'm the leader."

"No," everyone safe Shino deadpanned as one, giving him a black look.

"Aw come on!" he whined, "That's gotta be some sort of conspiracy!"

"Yes, it is," Naruko supplied from behind Hinata, "You and your gross speedo have no right to lead anything!"

Akamaru whined pitifully from his masters side, as if to confirm just how gross it was.

"See? Even Akamaru thinks you're gross!" Naruko exclaimed.

Kiba glared at his companion. "You traitor!" he hissed, falling to his knees in shame.

Naruko rolled her eyes and pushed Hinata into Sakura's way, evading yet another grapple and toppling both of them over. "Last on in the water is an Uchiha!" she shouted and sprinted off.

"Hey!" Sasuke exclaimed indignantly, "What is that supposed to mean!?"

* * *

Kakashi was watching them from a distance, quietly contemplating just how grateful he was for everyone in Konoha that had helped Naruko along the way. She would never have turned out the way she did if they had ignored her as well.

He tilted his head as he watched her squish Hinata's chest from behind, obviously complaining about the sheer size of them.

Well, maybe she turned out a bit... odd. But hey, it could have been worse.

She had great friends now, allies, companions. Naruko wasn't alone anymore and it all began with a sandcastle. Back in Konoha, Iruka and Kurenai were arranging for Naruko's apartment to be fully furnished and cleaned when they returned. Yugao should by then have arranged for the Uzumaki to be formally instated as a clan in Konoha, not this infirm position they had as a mere shell.

The Uzumaki were a matriarchal clan, so no matter how this mission went, Naruko could take position as clan head in Konoha. The fact that her mother had been the next in line anyways only affirmed the position.

He smiled as he watched Naruko race Kiba and Sasuke to a rock further out in the water. She lost her top on the way and while Sasuke was busy keeping Kiba from looking, Naruko won with ease. Maybe giving her Icha-Icha to read had been a... questionable idea. She either hadn't realized that she was topless, or she just didn't care. Kakashi strongly suspected the latter.

Everyone would have liked to blame Anko for that but... it may have been his fault. People didn't like the sight of her some years back, so he told her repeatedly that she was beautiful and shouldn't care about what others saw or thought. It booted her confidence to the level it had today.

But it also made her more or less and exhibitionist. It was a 50/50 in hindsight.

"How are they doing?"

Kakashi didn't need to turn around to know that Itachi was right behind him.

"Your brother is protecting Naru's modesty," Kakashi responded. "In vain, I might add."

Itachi flicked a room key at him, which he caught without looking. "Are you spying on your little sister?"

"Don't say it like that," Kakashi mock whined. "It makes me sound creepy."

"You red porn in public. That said, so does Naruko. You really corrupted her," Itachi deadpanned, sitting down on the tree branch next to him.

Kakashi chuckled. "Just let them believe it's Anko's fault."

They were building a sand castle. Naruko had ordered Shino's insects to dig a moat. Why they listened to her was beyond him, but they did. With Sakura's earth affinity, the castle grew in height by the minute. Onlookers from the path at the coast were staring awestruck at the several dozen meter high castle.

"Didn't we tell them to act inconspicuous?" Itachi asked with a sigh.

"I bet you my collection of Icha-Icha that Naruko doesn't know what that means," Kakashi responded with a tired laugh.

* * *

After another sleepless night for her, Sakura found that she got seasick pretty easily. The boat didn't sway that much, but every little wave dealt a severe blow to her equilibrium and, as a consequence, to her stomach.

"That's not sexy at all, Sakura," Naruko commented, leaning against the railing besides her with the back to the sea.

She groaned before shooting a tired glare at the redhead. "No one told you to watch- Urgh!" She didn't remember eating that much.

Naruko slapped her on the back. Hard. She heaved again. "Well, you'll live. Just a few more hours."

"Curse you-!" Sakura croaked, before returning to the task at hand. Feeding the fish. What a day.

* * *

"This place is a dump!"

Naruko wouldn't have put it like that, but in essence, Kiba was right. The Land of Waves was a really sad looking place. All grey and the people wore little more than rags. Children played in dirty puddles, some scavenged trash cans, others were just crying or weeping in the arms of their emaciated parents.

"What happened here?" Hinata asked from her side.

They passed an enormous construction site, a halfway finished bridge. Workers were laboring restlessly away but there seemed to be too little for such a huge construct. The streets were almost empty and the people seemed to flee at the sight of them. Naruko frowned when she saw a little girl hunker away under a cardboard box, wet and cold. She quickly hurried over to her, kneeling down in front of the box.

"Hey," she carefully called as she went through her pockets, "Here, takes this. It will keep you warm." She pulled one of her coats for cold weather from a scroll and pushed into into her tiny hands before she could refuse.

The girl, with her dirty blonde hair and threadbare dress, scurried deeper into the box but accepted the coat anyways. "T-Thank you, miss!" she squeaked with a tired smile.

Naruko smiled sadly at her before pulling a small pouch from her back pockets. "Take care," she said, leaving the pouch with the girl. It contained a few hundred ryo, it would hopefully keep her fed fro a while.

She returned to her team, Kakashi had already gone on ahead or so it seemed. "Sorry," she apologized and fell in step besides Hinata.

* * *

The harbor was very, very different, Naruko noted. It wasn't as dirty and actually crowded. Workers swarmed the roads in between the ships and the halls they stored their wares in and all in all it looked rather like business was going well. So why was the town like this?

"That's Team 2's mission," Itachi suddenly said, probably aware of their thoughts. "They are here to protect the man that is building this giant bridge to the continent. This way they gain access to the land."

"But don't they have all these ships already?" Hinata asked, indicating the two dozen of modern ships that were moored in the harbor.

Itachi shook his head. "Not... exactly. These ships are owned by the trading tycoon Gato. He is also the one to one this harbor. As far as Konoha is informed, he restricts access to the ships and puts hefty taxes on everything the towns people are trying to import."

"He's driving them into ruin?" Sasuke asked. "What would he gain from that?"

"The land," Itachi said as he led them onto a street that lead out of the harbor and out of the village. "Gato produces a lot of clothing and high quality metal. He intends to take the land the towns are built on and erect new factories there."

Naruko scowled at the dirty cobblestone under her feet. She didn't like hearing things like that. They had learned that the official reports only ever told so much. In reality, it could be far worse. Naruko remembered how Iruka taught them about the illegal business that was hidden in seemingly normal companies. Smuggling drugs, counterfeiting money, human trafficking.

She remembered the man she had killed, the head of a human trafficking organisation. A murderer, a rapist. Scum... Naruko blinked twice and suddenly they were walking up a dirt road. She looked up and behind her, seeing that they were leaving the village and moving inland.

"Uhm, where are we going?" she asked, totally lost. Weren't they supposed to get on a boat to Uzushio?

Itachi smiled at her. "We have received a message from Team 2. They require assistance."

"Kaz needs help?" Naruko asked, eyebrows raised. "He didn't ask, did he? I bet it was Ami!"

"It was a message from their sensei, you dolt," Sasuke huffed.

She glared at him. Just because she hadn't been paying attention...

"The mission has become increasingly more difficult after they encountered a missing nin, Zabuza Momochi," Itachi continued on, "They have fended him off, but cannot protect the bridge builder effectively with him around and all of Gato's thugs."

"The tycoon has thugs?" Hinata asked, observing their surroundings with her Byakugan.

"He was the one who hired Zabuza to kill the bridge builder," Itachi explained. "Now come, we should hurry. Team 7 is already at the house."

* * *

"Sensei Iruka!?" Naruko all but shouted once the door was opened. The man in question had almost drawn a kunai on her, but resisted the urge.

Instead he sighed in relief. "Hello to you too, Naruko," he said, "Do come inside, we have much to talk about."

"What are you even doing here?" Naruko pressed on, dragging Hinata and Sasuke inside, almost squishing them in the doorway. Itachi followed with an amused smile.

"I am the jonin sensei of Team 2," Iruka calmly explained.

"But-! Who was the guy at the ceremony!?" Naruko distinctively remembered some other guy standing wit Kaz and the two girls.

"That was sensei Endo," a deep, raspy voice rang from up ahead, like stone grinding stone. "He was just a placeholder while Iruka held the ceremony."

"Kaz!" Naruko shouted and bound up to him.

"That's sensei to you," Iruka grumbled.

"If you insist," Kaz returned, tough he didn't sound admonished at all. "I see they choose our reinforcements well," he said to Naruko, his coffee brown eyes almost black in the dim light of the hallway they all were gathered in.

"We simply were in the area," Itachi said, handing a scroll to Iruka while Hinata and Sasuke went into the next room, the parlor apparently. "A stroke of luck, you could say."

"One can plan with luck just as well," Kaz countered before he simply turned around and motioned with his head for Naruko to follow.

He was still just the same she remembered him to be. Kaz had been living on the streets, just like her, though he had not been granted the ninja population's goodwill, like it had been for her. They hadn't met often and when they did, it was pure chance, sharing the same shelter in the rain or hiding from the cold. She had, on occasion, shared food with him and he had shared with her.

Unlike her, Kaz had been a thief before becoming a ninja. He stole from the richer merchants and was never caught. With one exception. And ANBU stumbled over one of his heists and took him into custody. His skill and determination had been so great, the Hokage offered him a place in the ninja program instead of holding court over an orphan with little to lose. He proved to be the best pickpocket out there, no lock proved impossible for him to crack and infiltrating a building he could plan out in his sleep.

Naruko wondered just what he was scheming this time, she could see it in his eyes that he was hatching a plan. She almost ran into a pile of fire wood and he not stopped her with his trusty cane. A cane, Naruko noted, he didn't need at all.

She grinned sheepishly at him, who merely strode on.

The kitchen was a fair bit brighter than the hall and Naruko got to see the long tear in Kaz's coat. Man, he was probably really pissed about that. Kaz put a great deal of effort into his wardrobe, though he would probably maim her if she ever told anyone about that. All in all, Kaz didn't even look like a ninja, more like some noble business man. The fine coat he wore was offset by his pristine white shirt and the navy blue vest he wore over it. Had a tie not been too restricting, Naruko was sure he'd wear one. His hands were, as always, hidden under fine leather gloves that fight like a second skin and he let his cane with the crow's head thump along the hardwood floor with every step he took.

Naruko could see Hinata and Sakura bustling about in the kitchen with at all, pretty woman with blue hair. She did look a bit worn out though. Probably the presence of so many ninja. Or maybe it was just Kaz, because Naruko knew he wasn't the most social person if he didn't have to be. That cool expression of his was downright unsettling!

"Hey hime!" she shouted, badly startling a man that had been lying down on a couch to her left, "What's for dinner?"

Hinata was momentarily lost in a fantasy about her cooking for Naruko in her home, where they lived together. And ate together. And slept together. And... showered-

With a breathy sigh, Hinata returned to kneading the dough in her hands, but so gently as if it were a living thing. Sakura looked at her as if she was out of her mind. And because Hinata was so lost in her own thoughts right then, it was the pink haired girl who answered.

"Uhm, we're baking bread, I suppose, and Miss Tsunami is preparing fish for us."

The woman in question looked up from descaling three rather big fishes and smiled briefly at her. A nervous smile, Naruko noted.

She followed Kaz into the next room, a sitting room perhaps, where Iruka was sitting down besides Kakashi, who was already sitting at a table with Shino. Kaz pointed out a place at the table for her with his cane and settled down in an empty spot as well. Sasuke joined them just as she had asked Shino if she could have one of his queens (which was firmly denied).

It was Kaz who took the word. "It's good to have two more teams as reinforcements," he said, hands folded atop the table. "But Zabuza is a foe far stronger than the Bingo Book made him out to be." He looked at Iruka as he continued. "Sensei had been able to shield us, but the arrival of the Demon Brothers put us in a pinch. They are high chunin in sheer combat ability and came with their own merry band of barely trained men." He shrugged. "They outnumbered us almost ten to one."

"That's forty, right?" Naruko asked in a hushed whisper.

"Yes," Sasuke responded with a barely restrained sigh

Kaz nodded as well. "40 men, with at least three of them capable shinobi, added to all of Gato's several hundred men poses a problem. Which is why sensei called in reinforcements."

Naruko grinned at him. She had just known that he would never admit to needing help. "Wait," she said once she replayed the last few sentences in her head. "Gato has sever hundred men? Where the hell does he keep them all?"

Kaz put a gloved finger down on the table, more precisely, a map that was opened all over it. He was pointing at the ocean north of the island. "Ships," he said, "And that's were we will strike."

Kakashi and Iruka sat back as observers, even when Itachi joined them. Kaz was a brilliant strategist, though unlike Shikamaru, he was more focused on infiltration than actual battle tactics. His charisma and unwavering determination could get him far.

If only he wasn't as ruthless as he was.

The three jonin didn't know much about Kaz's past in detail, but before he came to Konoah it couldn't have been good.

"Defending ourselves against Zabuza is easy," Kaz said, pushing is black hair back out of his eyes, "If we can keep them separated."

Shino nodded. "An effective plan. Why? Because separated, their numbers are less of a problem to us."

"You got it," Kaz said with a nod. "But separating them is the hard thing. Their goal is, after all, to take out Tazuna." He waved his cane in the direction of the parlor, where they could see the man snore on the couch.

Kaz was about to continue when Sakura stuck her head in through the door. "Will you stop lazying around and help?" she huffed, hands at her hips. "Besides, food is ready."

Kiba, who had been on guard duty outside, few in though the front door. "Did I hear food!?"

Kakashi rose lazily from his seated position. "My, Kiba, could it be that you just abandoned your post?"

"Uh," Kiba made, looking pretty uncomfortable.

"It seems there is training to be done," Kakashi sighed, though the glint in his eye told Naruko that he would gleefully drive him into the ground.

* * *

Kaz's plan involved a lot of distractions, decoys, blowing up ships and a lot of other stuff that Naruko didn't bother remembering. Instead, she prepared to face off against a few ninja in combat while the jonin would dispatch of Zabuza. In theory, that should be easy. Sicking Itachi Uchiha and Hatake Kakashi was overkill already and adding Iruka with his rather mean barrier-spiky-jutsu only added to it.

Naruko had dragged Hinata and Sakura outside to train once they had done their due on guard duty. Though Naruko may or may not have left a clone in her place. Kaz, because he was a sneaky bastard, happened to sit on a tree in the clearing they were training in.

He was sitting up there, high and mighty, observing them quietly for a time while Sakura tried layering her fists with condensed stone and Hinata attempted to finally do the _Water Prison Jutsu_ hands free. Naruko was busy applying various rather dangerous seals to her sword, such as an "Unbreakable Seal", which, as you may have guessed, would cause the object it was applied to to become unbreakable. The funny thing was that it actually worked, but if she got the seal anywhere else than her sword... sheesh. petrification and subsequent atomisation would follow.

"You never cease to amaze me," Kaz suddenly said and Naruko's brush twitched.

"Uh-oh!" she made before quickly chucking the sealing tag into a storage scroll

Sakura immediately and without any hesitation took a dozen meters safety distance and Hinata was drenched in her water justu as she, too, scrambled away from the scroll. It began to glow just as Naruko chucked it high into the sky, where it, rather anticlimactically, just crumbled away into dust.

"As I said," Kaz began again, voice even raspier than before, "Never cease to amaze me."

"Shut up!" she huffed up to him. "What do you even want? Perv on Hime in her wet clothes?"

The girl in question squeaked and covered herself immediately.

He laughed. "No, I did, in fact, not come to observe Lady Hinata's underwear." Hinata blushed even more once she realized that her bra was rather visible though her training top. "I came here to ask I you would be interested in a bargain."

Naruko rolled her eyes. "If you want a favor, I'll do it for free. " Gods, he was so damn proud!

Kaz dropped out of the tree and landed with a mock bow. "Would you now? Then how about you put this... _interesting _piece of sealwork on my cane?"

Naruko's eyes lit up. Uh, yes! Messing with stuff and seals! "What do you need?" she asked, eager to produce something that defied the laws of nature.

He chuckled, a rasping sound like the crowing of a crow. "As eager as always to mess with my things," he commented dryly but held out his elegantly carved cane out for her.

She let her fingers roam over the cool wood and the crows head out of chakra conductive metal. "So? What do you need? Tell me already?"

His grin was predatory. "I think you will like it."

Sakura and Hinata exchanged weary glances. This could end in a disaster. Or one of Naruko's weird seals that reverted gravity, caused water to burn or food to r_egenerate_. There was only hoping that Kaz's ideas weren't as crazy as Naruko's own.

* * *

The moon stood high above the clearing and illuminated the evidence of shinobi training. Chakra burns and craters everywhere, and much to the newcomer's confusion, a tree that was entirely upside down with a seal glowing on it's trunk. Three girls slept peacefully underneath a tree at the edge of the clearing, all of them seemingly enveloped in the long red hair of the girl in the middle. It was a rather cute image that presented itself to the black haired figure. But a Konoha headband gleamed brightly in the moonlight, which marked them as enemies to Zabuza.

As Zabuza's tool, it was mandatory to get rid of the threats to the mission. By pure chance they had been found, though the figure had only been in this part of the forest to gather some herbs to use to make powerful paralyzing poison. A knife glinted in the moonlight as it was freed from a basket full of herbs and greens. In three silent steps the girls were close enough to let the black haired figure feel their warmth. The knife raised to the redheads throat...

A moment of hesitation.

"So you won't do it?" asked a gravely voice from above.

The figure didn't move. "It would be rather unwise," spoke a rather feminine voice, tough a masculine roughness was dormant in it.

"It would be unwise indeed, if not suicidal." A young man dropped out of the canopy above, dressed sharply and leaning on an ornate cane to support the weight of his right side. "They are awake after all."

A pout appeared on the redhead's face. and her eyes opened. "Kaz!" she whined. "I wanted to surprise her!"

"And could have lost an eye," Kaz rasped, "Don't fool around now."

The other two girls stood slwoly and the figure took a few slow steps back, not quite out of reach but close enough to catch. Naruko pointed a finger at her. "You, who are you?"

The figure bowed. "I am called Haku. And, as you have no doubt noticed, I am a shinobi."

"One of Zabuza's?" Kaz asked, his cane thumping loudly against a tree root. The eyes of the crow's head on his cane briefly glowed a deep violet before fading again.

"I am," Haku admitted and prepared to run, tensing the legs ever so slightly.

"You!" Naruko spoke again, "You... are... so... _pretty_!" she exclaimed with a squeal.

Haku faltered. "I, uh... why thank you. I am a boy though."

"Naruko!" the pink haired kunoichi snapped, "Stop sexually harassing the enemy!"

"You're just jealous," the redhead huffed at her before returning her attention to Haku with a doubtful expression. "No way you are a boy."

Haku allowed a small laugh. "But I am."

"Prove it," Naruko dared.

Haku blinked a few times before placing a hand over the chest. "Well, I do not have a chest to speak of."

"Neither has Sakura," Naruko countered.

"Hey!" the girl cried in outrage.

Kaz thumped his cane loudly against the tree again. "I do not believe this is the right time for such banter. You are one of Zabuza's unless you can prove otherwise. Letting you go would be foolish."

Haku smiled sadly. "I see. Then I must-"

Suddenly Naruko was right in front of the enemy ninja, noses just an inch from touching. Haku moved immediately to defend, stabbing at Naruko's neck before just freezing.

"A girl," Naruko said seriously, "I told you so, she's a girl."

"N-Naru!" Hinata cried, "W-What are you doing!?"

Naruko took a step back, but one hand remained firmly buried in Haku's crotch. "She wouldn't admit it and her scent was masked with testosterone so I just had to check!"

"Naruko!" Sakura cried, stomping up to her, "Stop molesting strangers!" She bonked her over the head and the redhead whined indignantly.

Haku remained, meanwhile, frozen in place with wide eyes, the senbon in her hand stopped mid-motion. Naruko's hand was still firmly pressed against her crotch. And then she wiggled a finger. Haku squeaked and jumped back, landing unsteadily. She covered her crotch with one hand and aimed the senbon with the other. She opened and closed her mouth a few times but couldn't find the words. Had the girl just-? And did her finger-?

"Naruko," Kaz sighed, "We are on a mission. Could you please refrain from assaulting enemies like that?"

"I was gathering information!" Naruko defended.

"You shoved you hand into her crotch!" Sakura shouted angrily. "I can't believe you!"

"Naru!" Hinata lamented, "How could you?"

"Hey! If you want to as well, you just have to ask!" Naruko huffed. "Besides," she turned back to Haku, "I'm intrigued as to why there was no underwear."

Haku's cheeks turned entirely red and she vanished in a bodyflicker.

"Great," Kaz sighed, "I take back what I said. That was not amazing at all." And with that, he walked back to the house.

"As if you are one to talk Miss I-dunno-what-a-bra-is!" Sakura huffed and walked after Kaz.

Hinata looked at her in a mixture of sadness and betrayal. "I though-!- I thought I was the only one-!"

Naruko scratched the back of her head. "Well, you still are. She wasn't naked after all."

That seemed to appease Hinata enough to allow a smile. "Well... okay. Then... should we go back?"

Naruko shrugged. "Sure. I mean, we better leave. I used some pretty wonky seals here so... better leave before something blows up belatedly."

As she and Hinata left the clearing, the upside-down tree suddenly rotated in place and stopped to float horizontally over the ground. Thousands of years later, people prayed at that very same tree for peace and prosperity. A selected few even prayed for fertility.

* * *

**A/N:I did not just make Naruko molest Haku, did I? Oh well...**

**Did I imply sex between Hinata and Naruko? No. I'd write that out. Maybe some... exploration of ones body. Partner work. **

**If you know who Kaz is, you read some pretty good books. If not, go read Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.**

**:3**

**So, here we are, at the hardest decision in the story: Are the Uzumaki alive, or are they all dead?**

**Let me know what you think! Maybe I'll put up a Poll.**

**Or should I add one about the paring? Because I'm not that certain yet. I am sorry!**


End file.
